US NAVY: Hackers 'Jumping The Air Gap' Would 'Disrupt The World Balance Of Power'

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.businessinsider.com/navy-acoustic-hackers-could-halt-fleets-2013-11#ixzz2lAFZv7QO

By GEOFFREY INGERSOLL
Business Insider
NOV. 19, 2013

The next generation hackers may be taking to sound waves, and the Navy is 
understandably spooked.

Speaking at last week's Defense One conference, retired Capt. Mark 
Hagerott cited recent reports about sonic computer viruses as one way that 
hackers could "jump the air gap" and target systems that are not connected 
to the Internet.

"If you take a cybernetic view of what's happening [in the Navy], right 
now our approach is unplug it or don't use a thumb drive," Hagerott said. 
But if hackers "are able to jump the air gap, we are talking about fleets 
coming to a stop."

For a long time the thought was that an air gap (systems that are not 
connected to the Internet) rendered networks pretty much impenetrable.

Then the Stuxnet virus happened — an Iranian nuclear scientist with an 
infected thumb drive walked a virus through the air gap and unknowingly 
uploaded a destructive virus onto a network controlling nuclear 
centrifuges. This attack not only damaged Iran's nuclear facilities, but 
it also signaled the dawn of kinetic cyber attacks (the kind that cause 
physical damage) and the revealed the vulnerability of air gaps.

[...]

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