American dam was targeted by Iranian hackers in 2013

Iranian hackers infiltrated the system operating a small dam near New York in 2013, The Wall Street Journal reports. No damage would have been done, it would have been just a reconnaissance of the system.

The newspaper states that the information comes from government officials who are familiar with the incident. It was not immediately clear to government authorities at the time which system had been infiltrated. The intruders were spotted during an internet attack on US banks from Iran. The NSA forwarded the incident to Homeland Security when it emerged an active search for network-accessible industrial control systems. It eventually became clear that the hackers entered the dam’s operating system via a mobile phone modem. It was about a six meter high dam near New York.

Although no damage was done, it was a significant sensation for the US government, The Wall Street Journal sources say. It turned out that Iran’s attack capabilities were greater than expected and that actual damage could have been done. The lack of clarity surrounding the incident also showed that much can be improved when it comes to defense against internet attacks. In Europe, there was an incident in Germany in 2014 in which hackers caused significant damage at a blast furnace.

More information about the vulnerability of industrial management systems can be found in the background article Scada Security: A Structural Problem.