14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers revealed that by using the flaws highlighted by the Stuxnet plague a resourceful cybercriminal can remotely open the computerized prison doors found in many facilities today.
According to The Hacker News, a team of researchers presented their findings at a recent security conference.
The experiments done by John Strauchs, Tiffany Rad and Teague Newman were validated by the Department of Homeland Security after the scientists demonstrated that federal prisons are susceptible to the attack.
The idea for such a project came after Strauchs had a related experience a few years back.
“I designed a maximum security prison security system. That is, I did the engineering quite a few years ago and literally on Christmas Eve, the warden of that prison after it was occupied, called me and told me all the doors had popped open, including on death row, which of course sent chills down my spine,” Strauchs said.
“So we fixed that problem very quickly. It was a minor technical thing that had to do with the equipment used, but the gist of it was it made me think if that could be done accidentally, what was the extent of what you could do if you did it deliberately?”
It turns out that the project wasn't too difficult. With the help of some equipment bought online and an appropriate workspace they were able to open sesame the doors in no time.
This is not the first time when vulnerabilities in SCADA systems are appointed as representing a threat to national security.
Not long ago, DHS released a paper in which they raised concerns about the possibility that Anonymous hackers might attack parts of the critical infrastructure. At the time they concluded that the cybercriminals don't possess the necessary knowledge to launch such an attack, but as recent studies show, hackers tend to evolve much faster than security experts.