US fights cyber-attacks on gas pipelines

The organisations managing US gas pipelines are now on a state of high alert following news that the network’s computerised control systems have been targeted by cyber-attacks over recent months

On 4 May, the US Department of Homeland Security confirmed a series of “intrusions targeting natural gas pipeline sector companies” that have been taking place since December 2011. The department’s Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) took the unusual step of issuing an alert to warn of so-called “spear-phishing” attacks by unknown assailants targeting employees with “convincingly crafted” emails. Spear-phishing is the practice of gathering information about employees at an organisation and then sending bogus emails to them intended to get them to reveal passwords or other security information. It is not known how far the attacks have spread, although ICS-CERT