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Shocking: Hackers Could Crack Electrical Grid
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-09-27
 Security News RSS Feed
The Department of Homeland Security was so alarmed at the emergence of a video of a generator being hacked remotely, they asked CNN to withhold certain details about it.
Ancient technology underneath the national power grid, coupled with the potential desire for anti-American bogeymen to cripple our infrastructure, received some graphic attention during a March experiment conducted in Idaho.
A CNN report about the video showed a generator spinning out of control, belching smoke, in response to a simulated attack by remote hackers.
CNN seemed a little confused as to how to present this story. The original title, "Sources: Staged cyber attack reveals vulnerability in power grid," has been changed to "Mouse click could plunge city into darkness, experts say."
We guess they don't want to alarm anyone unnecessarily.
Several of those experts commenting on the experiment cited the danger of a cracked power grid:
"For about $5 million and between three to five years of preparation, an organization, whether it be transnational terrorist groups or nation states, could mount a strategic attack against the United States," said O. Sami Saydjari of the nonprofit Professionals for Cyber Defense.
Economist Scott Borg, who produces security-related data for the federal government, projects that if a third of the country lost power for three months, the economic price tag would be $700 billion.
"It's equivalent to 40 to 50 large hurricanes striking all at once," Borg said. "It's greater economic damage than any modern economy ever suffered. ... It's greater then the Great Depression. It's greater than the damage we did with strategic bombing on Germany in World War II."
Later in the report, it is noted that exploiting the vulnerability requires "several conditions" to be in place. Firms in the electric and nuclear power industries have been implementing a fix to correct the issue.
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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