Fred Gordy of McKenney's, Inc. Discusses Threat of Cyberattack Through Facility Control Systems

Online, November 6, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Fred Gordy, technology evangelist of McKenney's, Inc. Enterprise Intelligence Group, has been featured in an article in CNBC's Hacking America series that dives into the latest developments in the ongoing global fight against cyber hackers.

The CNBC article titled "Hackers' next target? Maybe your facility's control systems" discusses the threat of cyberattack through facility control systems with McKenney's Gordy, Cylance's Michael Schell, and independent cybersecurity researchers Billy Rios and Terry McCorkle. More information about the series can be found here http://www.cnbc.com/id/101163690/

The researchers warn that thousands of public and private facilities nationwide are vulnerable to cyberattack through the very systems that control a building's operations, known as industrial control systems (ICS) or building management systems (BMS). According to them, targeting an ICS or BMS is more likely an effort to find an alternative way into an organization's network.

McKenney's, the Southeast's leader in building automation and security and a third-party integrator of BMS has been working to raise awareness of BMS vulnerabilities through its training center in Atlanta.

As part of the effort, the company maintains a demonstration center equipped with decoy BMS software, also known as a honeypot, which is connected to the Internet to both demonstrate how an attack could take place and also to monitor how often hackers are attempting to penetrate an Internet-facing log-on screen.

"We implemented the honeypot in March, under the direction of Rios and McCorkle. We built a system that looks to be like any small data center and we put a piece of monitoring software on there that we wrote. Since we implemented it, we've been hit over 30,000 times" by unauthorized attempts to breach the system, said Gordy.

Gordy, along with other experts CNBC spoke with, says that, as cyberthreats against corporate and government networks continue to escalate, hackers of all types are looking for any entry point into a network. ICS and BMS can then be used as a bridge to even more critical systems such as a company's data center where valuable intellectual property, customer data or other nonpublic information may be stored. Read the full article here http://www.cnbc.com/id/101163690/

About McKenney's
McKenney's is the Southeast's most trusted name in facility construction, operation and maintenance. For more than six decades, our proven approach has ensured high-quality, energy efficient solutions at every stage of a building-Design, Build, Manage and Maintain. McKenney's offers expertise in HVAC, process piping, plumbing, and building automation and control systems, as well as service and maintenance. Our in-house engineering, fabrication, installation and commissioning resources ensure cost-effective delivery of the highest quality solutions. For more information, please visit www.mckenneys.com.

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