Security News > 2020 > January > Hackers Can Cause Damage to Industrial Systems by Abusing Design Weaknesses
An analysis of industrial control systems has shown that many products contain features and functions that have been designed with no security in mind, allowing malicious hackers to abuse them and potentially cause serious damage.
The company's researchers discovered that many of the industrial control systems used by these organizations are affected by design flaws and weaknesses that could be leveraged by malicious actors for a wide range of purposes, including to cause disruption and physical damage.
An attacker does need to have an understanding of how the targeted system works in order to exploit these weaknesses.
One example of a ubiquitous issue provided by Carrigan is related to a control function parameter, known as the output characteristic, that is present in a wide range of control systems.
The solution for mitigating risks is to have good configuration management practices, and routinely audit systems for unexpected changes, which can improve not only security but also reliability.