http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
I'm all for secure systems but I couldn't find anywhere besides the insider story that linux was even mentioned and certainly nothing about them "replacing windows machines" to fix the problem.

Nice accurate story checks. I understand, it can take at least a couple of minutes to track the information back to its source and that is clearly far to much time to waste these days purple monkey dishwasher.]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
True to an extent. But not that honest.

Kind of like the difference between not putting disinfectant on a minor scratch and playing in medical waste.

Now if you had said that any system can be hacked, I'd agree with you. ]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
I was with you until purple monkey dishwasher.]]>Oct 8th 2009 7:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
Linux, Solaris, OS X, ... bottom line *nix systems have a proven track record and security model. Period.]]>Oct 8th 2009 8:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 8:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 9th 2009 2:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
http://www.osnews.com/story/20525/AVG_Antivirus_Accidentally_Kills_Windows/]]>Oct 8th 2009 4:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
However, a power-grid control computer should not be on the Internet; at least, not without an industrial-strength firewall that only allows approved, encrypted traffic through.]]>Oct 8th 2009 6:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 11:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 9th 2009 4:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
Anyone who thinks this is a win for FOSS/Linux instead of a potential disaster when they screw it up, isn't paying attention to the details of the story.]]>Oct 8th 2009 4:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
So, in this case, Linux did help. However, the company still needs to practice better updating of their security- be it Windows or Linux.]]>Oct 8th 2009 4:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/bigger numbers, while we're becoming lazier and using less common sense.
]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 9th 2009 9:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
What's next, the company reporting slow boot speeds on Windows 7 after switching to Lolo Technologies?! *sigh*]]>Oct 8th 2009 4:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Virus signatures and OS patches should always be tested before deployment because sods law has it (and I've had it to me too often) that the patch or update will cause some bespoke piece of software to fail or be flagged as a virus. Hell sometimes it happens to the non bespoke software too.
Nothing should go anywhere near your servers or workstations that hasn't been tested.

That said, no updates since February is very dumb, delaying a week for internal testing makes sense (unless it's a nasty virus in which case it should be tested as a high priority before release.) Delaying 8 months is asking for trouble.]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/no updates since February wtf...]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
Customer: I'm not able to open this dialogue box
Me: Oh, ok, what web browser are you using, and which version
Customer: FF 3.5
Me: Cool, do you have Javascript enabled?
Customer: Yep, updated it yesterday
Me: ?
Customer: Its running in the corner "Java Runtime Envornment"
Me: ?! Java and Javascript are two totally different things.

He referred to JavaScript several times in the duration of that phonecall, and also reffered to a web browser as a search engine...]]>Oct 8th 2009 6:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
Yes. They are for people who want a false sense of security via the hallucination that anti-virus programs can mitigate security flaws in poorly designed operating systems. For critical infrastructure, the only rational approach is to use a relatively secure operating system, and KEEP AN AIR GAP between those machines and the internet.
]]>Oct 8th 2009 4:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
Have also been Windows OSes since WinNT :)]]>Oct 9th 2009 4:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 4:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.builderau.com.au/program/linux/soa/Linux-botnet-discovery-points-to-lazy-administrators/0,339028299,339298642,00.htm
]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 9th 2009 11:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
***penguin shaped thing pops out of laptop***

Slamer Worm Shield now !!

***viruses bounce off to the depths of the ocean***

Great job! Now teach these morons techs Auto-Update !!!!]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 7:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
I surmise their whole organization is like this...]]>Oct 8th 2009 5:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 5:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/Oct 8th 2009 6:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/08/australian-power-grid-attacked-by-virus-linux-saves-the-day/
Unfortunately it does.

If personnel can't use control system, that means that whole system is in endangered. Any system itself means very little without human controlling it. Especially power grid.

Imaging the situation where control system isn't accessible and some problem occurs. Automated "best" reaction in many cases is to disable part of the power grid (leaving lots of people without light) while for human it might take only a call to dispatch technician.]]>Oct 9th 2009 6:17AM