Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post
For those who are knowledgeable about this kind of thing, do you think somebody was running some kind of test in preparation for bigger things? What was the purpose of the attack? Also, why does a local water utility have to be connected to the internet?
Carl,

I think the rules of the road for cyberwarfare are being written as we speak; but generally speaking, just as every weapon needs to be tested before it can see the battlefield – so too will every cyberwarfare capability.

The difference being there really isn’t cyberwar proving grounds. This means that enemy infrastructure networks need to be regularly penetrated and I imagine occasionally fooked with – just to ensure you still have the capability.

Why does a water utility need to be connected to the internet? Remote access brings efficiency and cost savings -- one group of SCADA engineers can control multiple sites remotely, instead of having to have SCADA engineers at every site 24/7.