Utility protection

Source: SC Magazine
URL: http://www.scmagazine.com/hacker-threatens-s-korean-nuclear-power-plants-if-ransom-not-paid/article/403489/

Very short article and little credibility of anything actually happening.  I do have to ask the question.  Why would access to a nuclear reactor need to be connected to the internet?

This article covers a nuclear power plant in Korea that was threatened via Twitter by a hacker.  He said he had critical information that he was going to share with foreign countries if they did not pay his ransom.

Protecting public utilities often comes up when discussing the damage that a cyber attack could affect.  I still do not understand why these systems that are so critical would be accessible from outside networks.  Systems such as these should have no external access.  It is typical again in government systems to have separate networks.  With the advent of the internet, it is difficult to not have at least one network that has internet access.  This does not mean that all your networks need to have this type of access.

Having a separate network to protect your critical networks is actually a fairly simple process (but expensive)  It just requires a completely separate infrastructure that has not connectivity to other networks.  Public utilities must enact these controls to secure their networks.