p2pnet - rss feed: Video: hackers grab US power grid!
p2pnet news | Politics:- There was a realistic Hollywood movie, a while back, about an evil bad guy hacker seizing control of the US power grid.
Now, Lo! —- “A government video shows the potential destruction caused by hackers seizing control of a crucial part of the U.S. electrical grid: an industrial turbine spinning wildly out of control until it becomes a smoking hulk and power shuts down,” says Associated Press, going on:
“The video, produced for the Homeland Security Department and obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, was marked ‘Official Use Only.’ It shows commands quietly triggered by simulated hackers having such a violent reaction that the enormous turbine shudders as pieces fly apart and it belches black-and-white smoke.”
AP goes on that flick was produced for “top U.S. policy makers” by the Idaho National Laboratory, “which has studied the little-understood risks to the specialized electronic equipment that operates power, water and chemical plants”.
George W. Bush’s second self, Dick Cheney, “is among those who have watched the video, said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because this official was not authorized to publicly discuss such high-level briefings.”
Also See:
Associated Press - US Video Shows Hacker Hit on Power Grid, September 27, 2007
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September 27th, 2007 at 11:29 am
this is why no Nuclear plant is connected to the web.
some things are just better left disconnected.
September 27th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
I find this interesting. From the standpoint of someone who worked with equipment through remote operations by computer. Often the equipment controlled was miles away from the computer terminal that did the controlling.
I often wondered about someone being able to get into the system from outside. The technology being used to remote sense the operations were outmoded/obsolete technologies once used widely in the communications industry.
The ability to reach into the system from higher authority existed as well. There were times when we had to leave the local control and go to a remote location a hundred miles or more distant from the main control we normally used. This remote control was the engineer’s back up monitoring location.
I am being very circumspect about the feild, company, and usage. I will not answer the who, why, or where because of this. Let us just say that it was done this way and leave it at that for this instance.
Still shutdowns were tied into the remote system. Valve controls, engine controls and various sensors to pick up out of parameter conditions all existed in the same packages. The network was extensive and the areas controlled huge.
Then this sort of article pops up and it really makes me wonder afresh about a job I no longer do as I am no longer with that particular company.