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Cyber Security official in the U.S. Government has raised flags regarding a spike in the increased attacks that are penetrating the industrial control system networks in the last few years. They point out that the reason for their vulnerability is the exposure to internet which makes them prone to attacks. Industrial control systems are computers that control industrial processes of breweries, factories, energy plants, steel mills etc. "We see more and more that are gaining access to that control system layer," said Marty Edwards, who runs the Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, or ICS-CERT. They are responsible for helping the U.S. firms investigate potential cyber attacks as well as corporate networks, as reported by Reuters.

Critical Infrastructure Security came into the limelight last month when Ukraine blamed Russia for a cyber attack that led to power outage. This incident has led infrastructure security specialists to take a look at their systems and expose such vulnerabilities that makes them prone to these attacks. Edwards said that the main reason for increase in these attacks is because these systems are now connected to the internet. "I am very dismayed at the accessibility of some of these networks... they are just hanging right off the tubes," he said in an on-stage interview with conference organizer Dale Peterson.

"I am very dismayed at the accessibility of some of these networks ... they are just hanging right off the tubes," Edwards said, according to Reuters. U.S. officials agreed that China and one or two more countries have the ability to shut parts of power grids in the U.S. if they desired to do so. Security officials believe that Russia and Iran, amongst others, are capable of doing that, as reported by The Hill