This was super scary!

[vivster]

Norris2k said:

Do you talk out of experience actually working on such critical applications, or is it a belief based on common sense ?
Myself I have been working on quite a lot of applications that were financially or commercially critical, and... OMFG ! Whatever can be considered as idiotic or highly risky is done. 5 years without an upgrade for a linux, no care of sql injection, etc., etc. And I'm not a specialist about security, that's just what was so obvious I could see it, in different companies and  different countries.  And that's exactly why Sony get hacked, and why millions of credit card number, personnal informations were stolen. So, I really hope they are doing a better job for a nuclear power plant. But, really, Tepco can't even have compliant cable for their emergency generator, why would they have a good security ? The only thing I can believe, is that their system are just oustide of internet, that there is no external connection possible.

I do talk out of experience. I am a network admin specialized in security in a medium sized IT company that operates world wide.

And with idiots I include of course not only the people who maintain the technology but also the ones who provide money for upgrades or in this case more often don't. A lot of CEOs in this world pretty much invite hackers into their networks by not providing sufficient funds and manpower to protect critical applications. It's generally a bit better in state run facilities than in completely private companies who are practically optimizing their risk management by deliberately calculating possible security breaches into their budget.