{"id":58863,"date":"2018-03-19T12:41:15","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T17:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=58863"},"modified":"2018-03-19T12:42:18","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T17:42:18","slug":"hackers-fumble-coding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/hackers-fumble-coding\/","title":{"rendered":"Hacker’s Fumbled Coding Saved Lives – Although They Didn’t Want To…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unknown Hackers Target Saudi Plant, Hoping to Cause Explosion<\/h3>\n

A cyber attack that hit a private petrochemical company in Saudi Arabia was executed with the end result being an explosion.\u00a0 Fortunately, there was an error in the coding, which didn’t trigger what could have been a deadly event.<\/p>\n

The attack occurred in August of 2017<\/a>, and until recently has been kept very quiet.\u00a0 Officials have not been able to comment on the event, as it is still an ongoing investigation.\u00a0 Therefore, most details are not released to the public.\u00a0 However, it has been confirmed that the hackers compromised the Schneider’s Triconex controllers, which gave them access to execute the malicious software.\u00a0 Exploiting the Triconex controllers is a global concern, as these specific controllers are used in thousands of facilities around the world, including water treatment facilities, nuclear power plants, and oil and gas refineries — to name a few.<\/p>\n

This cyber attack is the third to hit Saudi’s petrochemical industry over a nine-month timespan.\u00a0 In January of 2017, two cyber attacks successfully executed, leaving hard drives corrupted and data completely wiped clean.\u00a0 It took months for the plants to recovery.\u00a0 It is believed these two attacks were executed with the goal of creating as much disruption in the industry as possible, as well as sending a political message.<\/p>\n

The underlying concerns are just how the hackers fulfilled the attack.\u00a0 They made the mistake within the coding, causing their end-goal to not be met.\u00a0 It is only a matter of time before they try again.\u00a0 And this time, they’ll likely succeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unknown Hackers Target Saudi Plant, Hoping to Cause Explosion A cyber attack that hit a private petrochemical company in Saudi Arabia was executed with the end result being an explosion.\u00a0 Fortunately, there was an error in the coding, which didn’t trigger what could have been a deadly event. The attack occurred in August of 2017, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":55212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[4786,5478,56],"class_list":["post-58863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips","tag-cyber-attack","tag-malicious-attack","tag-malware"],"yoast_head":"\nHacker's Fumbled Coding Saved Lives - Although They Didn't Want To...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Saudi petrochemical plant was hit with a cyber attack, with the end goal being deadly. 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