Iranian hackers targeted US dam

Although there was no damage caused the attack did reveal information about how the computers controlled the flood system. The systems control pipeline flow, drawbridge movement and water release, so a hacker could in theory cause an explosion, flood or traffic chaos by hacking a dam. A separate AP report also claimed that infrastructure targets were regularly hit by nation state hackers – stating that there had been approximately 12 high level breaches in the last decade, gaining enough remote access to control the operations networks that keep the lights on for example.

The same group of hackers have been implicated in three other attacks on US financial firms. Many of the national infrastructure systems in the US are vulnerable to such attacks as they were set-up long before there was any apparent need to protect them – indeed many were never built with network security in mind at all. Hooking the plants up to the internet over the last decade has given hackers new backdoors in. In addition, distant wind farms, home solar panels, smart meters and other networked devices must be remotely monitored and controlled, which opens up the broader system to fresh points of attack.

Cyber hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and instances of these types of cyber attack, while rarer than data theft, are often more complex and dangerous. Information about the government's response to these hacks is often protected and sometimes classified.