[Peter from Rutland]

Since I work in the industry providing automation solutions to companies such as these I think I may be able to help reassure those that still at least have one foot on the ground.

Many of the companies that provide electricity to the grid are not running windows to power their systems, they are still running everything on UNIX. They simply cannot upgrade because they have a 100% up-time requirement.

Those that are running on Windows based systems are under a very rigid security requirement from the government. These security requirements are mandated, they have no choice. Even the USB slots on these machines are blocked out from use.

Such systems are NEVER on the greater internet. They are on a localized intranet and not accessible from the outside world. Someone would have to get in on the inside AND have administrator privs to infect anything.

So what is at risk? Perhaps 1% of the systems and thus the grid.

[catman67]

My electric company has been pushing the Smart Meter BS for a couple of years now. They were even offerring discounts for those households that signed up (or tax penalties for those who didn’t, depending on your point of view). I never signed on.

Got a letter from them yesterday that I am getting a Smart Meter whether I want one or not! So much for freedom of choice!

[Drill Thrawl]

they are still running everything on UNIX. They simply cannot upgrade because they have a 100% up-time requirement.

Are you saying that they are running on 40 year old hardware and software that has NEVER been down for maintainence or upgrades?

[mouser]

So what is at risk?

Ever time someone tells something is fool proof

Did you know this month is the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic sinking

[appalachian_dweller]

I'm an ex-unix administrator (solaris). While the unix platforms and code are far superior to windows, any system can be hacked. That's why intrusion detection is an integral part of any network security.

IIRC, there was a report a couple of years back that some utility data systems had been hacked and the admins were not sure what, if anything, was left behind.

IMHO, there are any number of things that could cause a catastrophic failure including low-tech shooter teams that take out critical substations.

It's just prudent to prepare to live without modern tech. There is just too much that could go wrong.

[backwoods-engineer]

Many of the companies that provide electricity to the grid are not running windows to power their systems, they are still running everything on UNIX. They simply cannot upgrade because they have a 100% up-time requirement.

No.

My company both sells the equipment, and also maintains back-end systems for large utility concerns.

We have fully redundant instant-failover servers. We can upgrade anytime we feel like it, with NO downtime.