Remember Stuxnet? Technology Being Imported to the US is Being Laced With Hidden Hacker Tools

I’m not a huge fan of outsourcing manufacturing overseas, but now there is another reason to be concerned.

Remember Stuxnet? That was where the “good guys” (us presumably, though we won’t admit it outright) performed a little cyber-sabotage of the gear used to create Iran’s uranium-enrichment centrifuges for their nuclear program. Basically Siemens PLC’s controlling the VFD’s on the centrifuge motors were infected with some very clever viruses. All it took was for some hapless scientist to connect a USB key to a computer on the network the gear was on, and the virus spread. It was apparently a very clever virus indeed, far more advanced than typical hacker toys. So much so, it was assumed that it had to have been a true cyberweapon concocted by governments.

Now I read an article indicating a great deal of imported technology is being laced with hidden tools to help hackers break security over here. It was never a great idea economically to move so much of our manufacturing offshore, but now it is increasingly looking like a terrible idea from a Homeland Security standpoint.

Fellow machists–looks like we’re going to need Norton and McAfee for Fanuc soon!

BTW, if you’re thinking just don’t connect to the Internet, think again. Stuxnet was spread by USB keys. This technology comes with the hacking already built in–no connection needed.

With trading partners like these, who needs enemies?

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