Malware found in the control room of a Japanese nuclear reactor
http://www.zdnet.com/malware-found-in-the-control-room-of-a-japanese-nuclear-reactor-7000025102/
Malware found in the control room of a Japanese nuclear reactor
Summary: Why does this sound like the beginning of a Godzilla movie?
By David Gewirtz for ZDNet Government | January 13, 2014 -- 19:44 GMT (11:44 PST)
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If a flood of bits made noise, you'd start hearing a giant sucking sound coming from the back of your computer, as your new best friend in South Korea (or at least, routing through South Korea) accesses your machine more than 30 times in the space of five days, and gobbles down more than 42,000 email documents and an entire treasure trove of training documents.
Now the good news. Your reactor hasn't been allowed to fire up since 1995 when the reactor shut down after a serious sodium leak and fire. The local community has fought against a restart for more than a decade, which probably was a good thing given that, in 2013 it was discovered that the Japan Atomic Energy Agency didn't, uh, bother inspecting 2,300(!) pieces of equipment.
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So let me be clear here. The whole reactor infected by malware thing isn't that bad, simply because other safety procedures at the reactor were so much more bad that the reactor isn't allowed to run. Ever.
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We don't exactly know who was sucking down the Monju control room documents, but they're probably up to no good. With 42,000 email messages and a pile of training documents now in the hands of troublemakers, there are bound to be a few leads into other critical infrastructure systems now in the hands of the bad guys.
Add to that the documents grabbed from the Japan Atomic Energy Agency HQ and you can be sure that there will be more bad days in Japan's atomic future.
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