Our IRC server is currently offline, and will be until futher notice. There has been some problems for our provider and they are having to migrate to a new data center. The hardware should be moved this evening and back online tomorrow.

Update:

The server is now back online and fully functional. For those who would like to join us here are the details:
Server: irc.hackthis.co.uk
Port: 6667 (6697 SSL)
Channel: #hackthis


Hackers have allegedly destroyed a water pump used by US water utility in Springfield, Illinois. The hack exploited a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system that controlled the water pump and then set the pump to continually power on and off, burning out the water pump. According to the report by Joe Weiss, usernames and passwords were obtained from the softwares vendor. The attackers' identity is still unknown, but their IP was traced back to Russia.

Texas

This has already been followed by another attack against a water treatment facility in South Houston, Texas. A hacker by the handle "pr0f," has taken credit for this exploit on pastebin with screenshots of the exploited programmable logic controller.
He told Threatpost that the Siemens Simatic human machine interface software that he exploited was Internet-connected, and protected with only a three-character password.

Norway

PCMag have reported on a confirmed attack of Norway's oil, gas, and energy sectors. During the attack sensitive information was obtained. This has been confirmed by Norway's National Security Authority (NSM). Malware-infected emails that were sent to "selected individuals in large Norwegian companies."


"Security researchers have discovered a new form of malware that appears to have been created by the same people behind the Stuxnet worm uncovered last year. The malware, named Duqu, gathers intelligence from industrial control system manufacturers, possibly for use in mounting Stuxnet-like attacks against facilitates such as power stations that use the industrial control systems.

Security firm Symantec reports that Duqu does not self-replicate, which means it is not a worm like Stuxnet, but was targeted at specific organisations. Also unlike Stuxnet, which was mainly found on systems in Iran, Duqu infections were detected on European computer systems." - newscientist.com

What was the Stuxnet worm?
When first discovered in 2010, the Stuxnet computer worm posed a baffling puzzle. Beyond its unusually high level of sophistication loomed a more troubling mystery: its purpose. Ralph Langner and team helped crack the code that revealed this digital warhead's final target -- and its covert origins. In a fascinating look inside cyber-forensics, he explains how.

Video from http://www.ted.com/

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15367816
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/10/researchers-discover-the-new-s.html





After much news coverage on News International and the phone "hacking" scandal, #AntiSec have shown where they stand with a number of attacks against the corporation.

Unlike their recent DDOS attacks they have moved on to more interesting antics. Taking control of thesun.co.uk, originally getting the home page point to an article reporting Rupert Murdoch's death [An screen shot of the article can be seen here]. Later redirecting all traffic to the @lulzsec twitter feed. Within 30 minutes the site was brought to its knees and is currently out of action.

Also leaking a number of usernames, hashes and salts including Rebeka Brooks. They have said that they also have a collection of emails stolen from News International servers, which they say they are "sitting on".

Apparently News International have released a statement regarding the attacks on The Sun, but LulzSec have started redirecting the page to its Twitter feed instead [Lulzsec Tweet].

Update

Thetimes.co.uk is also appearing to be down. Although anonymous are not taking the credit in one of their status updates. Seems to be part of the after affect of earlier events.

Related News

Sean Hoare...phone hacking whistleblower found dead - read more.

More to come soon...