Terrorist threat to power grid computers?

Fox News, The Big Story | Feb 28 2002 | jacques

[jacquej]

Listening to Fox News today, I heard several times over the course of the afternoon, some brief reports that the computers controlling the power grid were being "hacked" "pinged" or tested in some way, and that this was coming from the middle east.

Then, John Gibson had an interview on the 5:00 PM show (Eastern Time) discussing this effort with an expert, (didn't get the name), and I became concerned.

Am I the only one who heard this story, and why isn't it getting more coverage, if true!

Y2K all over again? I don't think I could take it!

[Lizzy W]

On FOX now!

[Dog]

I heard it also.....they said the word "probed"

[Roger_W_Isom]

Are we looking at a possible BACKDOOR attack on the DOW JONES and NASDAQ Computer systems??????

[Jefferson Adams]

[Jefferson Adams]

When are we gonna get serious with these people?

[Roger_W_Isom]

The time has come to shut down COMPLETELY ALL of ARAFART'S, Saddam's and even the SAUDIS oversea BANK ACCOUNTS!!!!!!

[Stultis]

Listening to Fox News today, I heard several times over the course of the afternoon, some brief reports that the computers controlling the power grid were being "hacked" "pinged" or tested in some way, and that this was coming from the middle east.

Huh?! Aren't these things on a closed or otherwise secure network? Can you pick up a freakin' phone and just call these computers?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

[TomGuy]

Some of the computer viruses that were spread, starting last summer, originated in the Middle-Far East. After 9-11, I figured the rash of viruses was directly or indirectly related to 9-11.

[Roger_W_Isom]

I take it it FINALLY time to STRIKE BAK HARD against ARAFAT????? I mean That is OBVIOUSLY the ONLY message these SUCKERS UNDERSTAND!!!!

[monkeywrench]

"Y2K all over again? I don't think I could take it!" I remember it was reported at the time that the govt. had foreigners working on their computers to bring them into y2k compliance?

[Roger_W_Isom]

These Muslims are so into DENIAL that the destruction of MECCA MIGHT RAPIDLY BECOMING OUR ONLY OPTION!!!!

[jacquej]

I'll bet a lot of them were from the middle east! I hope they didn't program something in the software that could be problematic at a later time.....

I am no expert, but it seems I have read the words "back door" as it relates to programming, and wasn't there some concern back then about this kind of activity?

[John H K]

Um, at what point are people going to give up their childish fantasies of nuking Mecca?

All the fake pics of it are old, all the jokes are old, and it isn't going to happen. Grow up and get real.

[John H K]

Well, a lot of Y2K work (for everyone, including business) was done with enormous rooms full of Indian programmers in India. Otherwise it 1) couldn't possibly have been affordable and 2) would not have been done in time.

Most Indians are Hindus, btw.

Almost EVERYTHING gets pinged all the time. The overwhelming majority of destructive foreign hacking till now has come from the PRC.

Of course, as long as it's possibly Arabs or Muslims, the most vague, least-fact-filled report is enough to get hysterical over and for the nitwits to crank out their jpegs of nukes blowing up over Mecca or whatnot. If someone can find an actual article somewhere rather than "I sorta overheard something on the TV" then a rational discussion can begin.

Best coverage of "Information Warfare" can be found on Strategypage.com, by the way.

[Dialup Llama]

There's a technique to deal with this called a honey pot. These ME hacker wannabes can be burned really bad.

[Timesink]

These computers, and practically every computer at all connected to the net in any fashion, have been getting "hacked and pinged" from every country on the planet for years. Unless Gibson and/or the expert gave some well-detailed explanation as to why there's something special about these pings (merely being "from the Middle East" isn't enough - the Arab World has teenaged boys too), then this is completely meaningless.

[Euro-American Scum]

When are we gonna get serious with these people?

When they blow up a power plant, or another building or perhaps vaporize a city. Then maybe we'll get serious with these people. Then again, maybe not.

I'm sure if they nuke an American city there will be some liberal pundit somewhere -- most likely from a secular liberal university -- swearing up and down that the real cause of the tragedy (another favorite liberal word) is the bigotry and hate inherent in the hearts of evil white, heterosexual males.

It takes a Ph.D. from an American university to attain the requisite intellectual acumen to understand the extremely complex and subtle concepts of multicultural discourse, you see.

That, and seriously screwing up a person's outlook on the world.

[Timesink]

I'm sure if they nuke an American city there will be some liberal pundit somewhere -- most likely from a secular liberal university -- swearing up and down that the real cause of the tragedy (another favorite liberal word) is the bigotry and hate inherent in the hearts of evil white, heterosexual males.

Any liberal pundit that attempted to say something like that after an out-and-out nuclear attack on a major American city that killed millions of citizens (and would send the entire planet spiralling into an instant, deep recession, if not depression), would almost certainly be hunted down and killed by a vigilante mob within hours. And I'll bet in such a scenario, the police wouldn't do a damn thing to try to protect the pundit, either.