Control System Security Meets Modern Threats

In December 2014, the industrial control system (ICS) security community learned of the latest serious attack against a control system. The attack targeted a German steel mill, which reported massive damage to a blast furnace as a result. The attack was a classic persistent targeted attack (PTA): a spear-phishing attack gained a foothold on the corporate network, which enabled the attackers to work their way into the control system network by remote control.