The Impact of Dragonfly Malware on Industrial Control Systems

Dragonfly malware infected hundreds of business computers in an often successful attempt to collect information on industrial control systems across the United States and Europe. The attack was performed in an orchestrated manner over an extended period of time and used infection methods that were difficult to detect and thwart. The malware collected information vital to the operation of the impacted systems across the energy and pharmaceutical sectors. This abstract will explore the impact of Dragonfly Malware on systems used for automated industrial control. The content will explain the manner in which Dragonfly infiltrated business systems in both Europe and the United States, how it was discovered, and the immediate and future impact of the malware on infected systems and on the ICS industry. This paper will also discuss ways in which the industry can safeguard itself against future attacks similar to the Dragonfly malware effort.