From The New York Times
In August, a petrochemical company with a plant in Saudi Arabia was hit by a new kind of cyberassault. The attack was not designed to simply destroy data or shut down the plant, investigators believe. It was meant to sabotage the firm’s operations and trigger an explosion.
The attack was a dangerous escalation in international hacking, as faceless enemies demonstrated both the drive and the ability to inflict serious physical damage. The assault was the most alarming in a string of hacking attacks on petrochemical plants. All of the investigators believe the attack was most likely intended to cause an explosion that would have killed people.