M
M Griffin
Siemens is saying that they know of 14 control systems that are affected. Other sources are saying 45,000 computers are affected. Although this virus seems to be looking for a very specific target, it is quite capable when it comes to actually getting on computers.
It is possible to imagine someone creating a variant of this that went after a popular brand of gas turbine control. Someone could get the viruses in position and then sell short electricity prices on the spot market for a specific block of time. They could then trip several power plants and watch the money roll in as the price of electricity rises. If they were careful enough not to trip too many plants at once, the plant operators would probably just write it off as an unexplained trip and not investigate it further.
There are probably other ways to manipulate spot prices for oil, natural gas, and other commodities. There is a *lot* of money to be made doing things like that then there is operating spam bot-nets. I will be surprised if someone doesn't take advantage of it.
It is possible to imagine someone creating a variant of this that went after a popular brand of gas turbine control. Someone could get the viruses in position and then sell short electricity prices on the spot market for a specific block of time. They could then trip several power plants and watch the money roll in as the price of electricity rises. If they were careful enough not to trip too many plants at once, the plant operators would probably just write it off as an unexplained trip and not investigate it further.
There are probably other ways to manipulate spot prices for oil, natural gas, and other commodities. There is a *lot* of money to be made doing things like that then there is operating spam bot-nets. I will be surprised if someone doesn't take advantage of it.