German nuke plant viruses

Malware managed to get into PCs at a German nuclear power station – but the software nasties weren't able to touch the systems running the reactors, we're told.

Machines operating the power plant are air-gapped from the office computers, which is just as well because the latter systems, retrofitted in 2008, caught viruses including W32.Ramnit and Conficker, apparently. They were picked up in a scan on April 24, and cleaned up. The station, Gundremmingen B, is operated by RWE, and is located about 120km northwest of Munich.

"All sensitive plant areas are decoupled and designed on a redundant and protected against manipulation," RWE said in a statement. ®