Dive Summary:

• The energy industry, which is only just starting to add in wireless networks, software, and big data storage systems, is susceptible to such an attack.
• Should controlling networks become hacked, the attackers could potentially cause electrical fires and even shut off power.
• Not only is increased cybersecurity a continued concern for the growing energy grid, but smart meters have already been shown to be easy to hack even without such an advanced computer worm.

From the article:

As the power grid and energy companies embrace digital technology, wireless networks and big data, they’re being exposed to the same security risks that the Internet has become accustomed to. Last week security group Kaspersky Lab wrote (via Ars Technica) that they’d discovered malware targeting a company in the energy industry that could destroy data in a computer’s hard drive and make the computer unusable.

The computer worm, called Shamoon or Disttrack by different security firms, is being compared to a series of malware that targeted Iran’s nuclear program (and reportedly could have been created by a U.S.-Israeli team). But the new malware also stands out because it attempts to make the wiped data entirely uncoverable by overwriting disks with bits of data taken from the web, and also alerts the attacker to how many files were destroyed. ...