[ISN] Contractor pleads guilty to SCADA tampering

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/092309-contractor-pleads-guilty-to-scada.html

By Robert McMillan  
IDG News Service 
09/23/2009 

A former IT consultant for an oil and gas exploration company has 
pleaded guilty to tampering with the company's computer systems after he 
was turned down for a permanent position with the company.

Mario Azar, 28, pleaded guilty on Sept. 14 to one count of damaging 
computer systems and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. News of his 
plea was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Bureau of 
Investigation.

According to court records, Azar accessed Supervisory Control and Data 
Acquisition (SCADA) computer systems belonging to Pacific Energy 
Resources of Long Beach, California, and caused the company to lose 
control of its computer systems around May or June of 2008.

Only a handful of SCADA computer intrusions have been reported, but 
because the systems are used to control large-scale industrial systems 
in manufacturing plants, public utilities and the chemical industry, 
security experts worry that tampering with them could lead to a 
large-scale power outage or environmental disaster.

[...]


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