Mexico's Critical Infrastructure May be Vulnerable to Hackers OOSKAnews
go to original September 28, 2013

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's critical infrastructure may be vulnerable to an attack from hackers, due to the use of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) control systems, the country's Excelsior newspaper has reported.

The September 23 report cited an attack on Iran back in June 2010, in which hackers took advantage of weaknesses in SCADA systems and may have set back the country’s nuclear program by three years. SCADA is used by Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the National Water Commission (Conagua), among other agencies, the newspaper said.

Siemens, the company that created the software, says it has provided some 500 SCADA networks in Mexico. These communicate through wireless connections or through GPRS (general packet radio service) over longer distances.

Alejandro Loza, a security expert with computer security software company Symantec, told the paper that these types of connections are vulnerable.

Read the rest at OOSKAnews

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