A nuclear power plant in Germany was infected with multiple viruses meant to give hackers remote access to its systems, the plant operator said in a statement this week.
The malware —"W32.Ramnit" and "Conficker" — was found on 18 removable drives connected to a computer system the company said was separate from plant operating systems. IT specialists found most of the malicious software on removable USB sticks, a common method attackers use to infect computers.
It's unknown how or when the viruses were delivered.
Hackers will sometimes drop USB sticks outside facilities they target, hoping that employees will pick them up and plug them into computers inside. Another common method of attack is to send targeted phishing emails with malicious attachments.
The press officer for the company told Die Zeit that nearly 1,000 computer systems were checked and "no system important to safety" had been infected.
A cybersecurity threat to critical infrastructure is of particular concern these days, especially after hackers caused a major blackout in Ukraine in Dec. 2015. Ethical hackers even demonstrated how easy it could be to "fully compromise" a power company for a recent Tech Insider report.
