European renewable power grid rocked by cyber-attack

EurActiv ^ | 10 December 2012 | Arthur Neslen

[Olog-hai]

A German power utility specialising in renewable energy was hit by a serious cyber-attack two weeks ago that lasted five days, knocking its internet communications systems offline, in the first confirmed digital assault against a European grid operator.

“It was a DOS (‘Denial Of Service’) attack with a botnet behind it,” Boris Schucht, the CEO of 50Hertz told EurActiv on the fringes of a Brussels renewables conference. “It blocked our internet domains so that in the first hours, all email and connectivity via the internet was blocked.” DOS attacks involve thousands of requests being sent to a server each second to clog up a system’s functioning.

Electricity supplies were not affected in the onslaught, which was “serious but not dangerous,” Schucht said. Email services were quickly repaired, although a fix to the problem was only discovered five days later. …

[ILS21R]

How could they tell?

[gleeaikin]

If you find this scary, you will want to read “Breakpoint” a realistic novel by counterterrorism expert Richard A. Clarke. It describes the future dangers of science development bent to evil purposes. He also authored “Against All Enemies” and The Scorpion’s Gate.”