The Department of Homeland Security is looking into claims of a severe weakness in power plant technology.

Cyber expert Justin Clarke announced at a tech conference Friday that he had found this vulnerability in software made by RuggedCom, a division of Siemens, Reuters reports.

If true, it means hackers could spy on network traffic, obtain credentials to get on the inside and attack the power plants.

Clarke says RuggedCom products all use the same software “key” to decode encrypted information. He said he bought some of those products on e-Bay.

DHS has asked the company to confirm the claim. Its analysts are working with Clarke and the company.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily Cybersecurity Update. For more cybersecurity news, click here.

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