Seven years ago, in a flurry of news headlines reminiscent of the recent WannaCry and NotPetya global ransomware attacks, reports came out about Stuxnet, a malware that targets Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) used in the automation of industrial machinery and processes. As the Iranians discovered at the time, this included nuclear centrifuges.
Despite infecting 200,000 computers worldwide and causing 1,000 machines in Iran’s Natanz nuclear facilities to shake themselves to pieces, it wasn’t long before it was largely forgotten about by the mainstream media. This may well have been because back in 2010 the concept of Industry 4.0 was still in its infancy and nowhere near as widely known as it is today.