SCADA security - who is really in control of our control systems?

Peter Allor IBM

No longer are hackers blasting far-reaching worms. They are quietly targeting government, financial and communications networks, as well as the back-end networks that control our power, oil/gas, manufacturing, water and transportation systems. In most cases, these control systems themselves don't support authentication, encryption or even the most basic validation protocols. Under contract with our customers, IBM Internet Security Systems has pen-tested many of the world's most important national SCADA networks and can confirm that lawmakers in Washington are rightly concerned that this lack of security could easily lead to a major incident. The Internet landscape is constantly evolving and businesses and governments must be prepared to protect against the ploys and illegal activities of the next generation of organized crime.

This session will discuss the various steps that business and governments must take in order to combat these limitless threats, including both technological advancements and better sharing of best practices between organizations.


Poll

How should software and OS patching/security updates be managed?
Manually, at the user's discretion
Automatically via an optional, user-defined schedule
Automatically via a fixed, but optional schedule
Automatically via a fixed schedule, on by default with opt-out system
Automatically and silently, with no option to run unpatched

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