Thousands of security flaws in Swedish control systems

SVT's mapping of industrial control systems and services that are accessible from the Internet landed in 3,809 IP addresses between May and September. The systems control physical equipment and with such security gaps, a hostile actor would have an easier time getting in and manipulating the business.

Several of the identified control systems are used for socially important activities, states SVT, and mentions the cyber attack against the digital control system of a dam at the Norwegian Risevatnet last year. It turned out to be Russian hackers exploiting a weak password to the control system and 500 liters per second flowed out for four hours before the breach was discovered.

- When you expose your systems to the internet without the right layer of security, you get these vulnerabilities, says John Billow, head of the National Cyber ​​Security Center, to SVT. We do not recommend anyone to expose themselves in this way.

Among the exposed IP addresses, the mapping has noted, among other things, refrigeration systems in grocery stores and IVF laboratories, defrosting systems at wind turbines, ventilation in polling stations and equipment connected to modern agriculture. These have been accessible through common browsers and often lead to standard login pages.

Weak passwords are often the explanation for data breaches. Last week, for example, digital Denmark was shaken by the fact that an anonymous hacker was able to tank the personal data of around 8.75 million citizens via one of the more than a thousand businesses that had legal access to the register - at least three people at the business had the password "123456".

SVT points out that FRA and the Civil Defense Agency have been warning about this kind of risk for several years. It is not enough to protect control systems with standard login pages, according to the authorities.

- No. Something more is needed to secure your system. Although it is a system where the consequences are not so great, says John Billow.