Siemens Security Breaches

607 Words2 Pages

From 2009 through now, Toyota issued recalls on a lot of vehicles for various reasons [1]. Most may remember the largest vehicle recall to date with Toyota recalling millions of vehicles due to a braking issue with the cars. The recall cost upwards of $2 billion [2] but we can infer that they responded quickly and handled the incident responsibly. Most products that are defective usually have guidelines [3] for the vendors to do what is right but what about software? Most reading this will be in some shape form or fashion involved with security, after all, it is a security based website. To you the reader, where have we gone wrong where we have learned to "settle" for whatever vendors choose to give us?

After watching the on-going Siemens fiasco [4], I have to wonder at what point, will a government agency start issuing sanctions on companies that fail to meet their obligations. "Obligation: 2. a. A social, legal, or moral requirement, such as a duty, contract, or promise that compels one to follow or avoid a particular course of action." [5] Certainly it is the government who holds enough "weight" to hold companies accountable however, the government seems to be oblivious to security on this level.

Now Siemens is no stranger to security holes, remember it was Stuxnet that targeted and exploited Siemens' software two years ago. Even now - two years after Stuxnet - many in the SCADA arena are fully aware that Siemens has still dropped the ball on fixing all of the issues associated with Stuxnet. Imagine that, two years ago, security professionals via way of discovering Stuxnet concluded that Siemens' software had gaping holes. Two years forward, they still have not fixed those initial holes. Now, we are hearing and reading a...

... middle of paper ...

...n the researchers, I see little condemning the vendors who are putting lives at risk with their marketing teams.

Works Cited

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009%E2%80%932011_Toyota_vehicle_recalls

[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8493414.stm

[3] http://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/8002.html

[4] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-25/siemens-tweaks-industry-software-after-u-s-cautions-on-hacking.html

[5] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/obligation

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet

[7] http://seclists.org/bugtraq/2011/Mar/231

[8] http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20065621-504083.html

[9] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35893905/ns/business-autos/t/toyota-recalls-may-cost-automaker-billion/

[10] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065063/

[11] http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20064112-245.html

[12] http://www.immunitysec.com/products-canvas.shtml

Open Document