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Prisonbreak no longer needs tattoos

by on02 January 2012



Scada security helps lags break free


Never mind tattooing escape maps on your body, or spending 20 years chiselling your way out of your cell with a sculpture knife, thanks to modern technology you could probably go out of the front door.

Many prisons and jails use SCADA systems with PLCs to open and close doors. Using original and publicly available exploits along with evaluating vulnerabilities in electronic and physical security designs, researchers discovered significant vulnerabilities in PLCs used in correctional facilities by being able to remotely flip the switches to "open" or "locked closed" on cell doors and gates.

According to security experts Help Net, its researchers did a walk-through in a US jails and saw PLCs in use, took pictures and saw prison guards accessing Gmail from the Control Room computers.  If the hacking was effective it could mean that using outside help, the prison doors could be opened for a prisoner to just walk out.

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