Posted on 01/26/2008 4:37:22 AM PST by Fennie
Computer hackers have managed to shut down power to entire cities by breaking into the systems of electricity companies and then demanding money, a senior CIA analyst has claimed.
Tom Donahue told a utilities security conference in New Orleans that all the successful hackings occurred outside America.
He did not specify what countries were affected, when the power cuts happened or how long they lasted.
Mr Donahue, who was speaking at the Process Control Security Summit, later said in a statement: "We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands."
He said the CIA suspected some of the cyber-attackers "had the benefit of inside knowledge."
He added: "In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet."
A CIA spokesman declined to provide additional details, saying: "The information that could be shared in a public setting was shared. These comments were simply designed to highlight to the audience the challenges posed by potential cyber intrusions."
The Bush administration is increasingly worried about the little-understood risks from hackers to the specialised electronic equipment that operates power, water and chemical plants, known as Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. These are increasingly connected to the Internet.
Hackers first launched such a pattern of cyber attacks followed by subsequent blackmail attempts against the online gambling industry six or seven years ago...
I just watched “Live free or Die Hard” a fews days ago. I would hope that utilities have computer interfaces designed in such a way that allows a worker to simply walk into a station, physically pull the unit, and reroute control if all else fails. To think that a system is actually designed to make a take over possible from a remote location, without a series of countermeasures available, defies all sanity.
Those that really want to get in the network still can.
Even a 100% fully encrypted dedicated system can be unlocked with someone on the inside or social engineering. The hack in the article most likely happened because of an employee helping, not because of the internet.
South Africa
Not that I've ever been part of the tin-foil hat brigade... But what makes you think some of those instances weren't us? Given the way the Govt. works, particularly in tightly compartmented, highly secure programs... Someone might have performed a "live test" outside the country on a "representative system" briefly... Of course, you wouldn't advertise this activity, so the CIA might come across it and investigate some, not knowing it was really "us" ... A case of the "right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing" - on purpose. And yes, you'd try to make it look like a simple, possibly even botched, attempt at extortion to hide its true purpose - beta testing part of a capability.
me too..shot them on sight
Hopefully not engines on 777’s
A small sum of gold and silver will do wonders in the barter department. Steel and lead in the shape of a hand gun will do wonders to protect that investment.
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Good advice.
08/14/03
Thanks!
Why in the world would anyone give access to their DCS systems? Stupid.
Why in the world would anyone give access to their DCS systems? Stupid.
I would support the death penalty for spammers.
Well said. But democracies generally need A LOT of bad news before they take action.
Whoa. Thanks! :)
I think it was “L&O” that had one where the Power Co was cutting back and the local was also owned by a conglamerate that bought and sold power. The scheme was to crash the local plant, which would force the city to buy from the conglamerate and when the desired ‘profit’ was reached, click back to the origional...
Isn’t that what basically happened to Davis’ California when they froze the local rates?
Well, then there’s always the Northern to Southern California aquaduct. I wonder sometimes how vulnerable it is, and millions in LA and other surrounding cities rely on that water. Imagine if the water supply was immediately contaminated or disrupted...electricity is one thing, without water in Los Angeles in a couple days at least the whole of the city would turn to anarchy. I hope there’s a plan there. Sorry for the scary thought.
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