U.S. Power Grid Vulnerable to Cyberattacks...do it with (EZ to get) software and a can of Pringles

[Iwentsouth]

Time to ban Pringles!

[ppaul]

Gee, I haven't heard aanything about the power grid since Gary North and the massive Y2K hoax!

[lewislynn]

No company should install a wireless LAN without understanding the consequences. But a power company...I'm surprised.

I received an e-mail regarding pulling this thread because it would give someone ideas...As if they didn't already have them.

The fact the article says you can make an antenna from a pringles can and use some software from the internet to do it means nothing to the person (like me) who doesn't know how to implement the plan...

However the person who does have the ambition to do it probably doesn't need the pringles can to begin with.

The article wasn't posted to instruct anyone on the how to's but rather to educate the public to the unknown vulnerability of ourselves and how easy it would be to happen....Maybe the power companies will get some heat.

[per loin]

For only $99.95 I can sell you a device which will watch your incoming power lines for any insecure electrons that try to sneak by. On second thought, make that $199.95. I'm greedy.

[Jay D. Dyson]

My take:

The Myth of Cyber-Terrorism

The hype doesn't help...it hurts.

-Jay

[Jay D. Dyson]

I received an e-mail regarding pulling this thread because it would give someone ideas...As if they didn't already have them.

No sense in pulling the thread. This stuff has been common knowledge for almost a year now. Cat's long out of the bag.

The fact the article says you can make an antenna from a pringles can and use some software from the internet to do it means nothing to the person (like me) who doesn't know how to implement the plan...

See WarDriving for more info. Besides, Trader Joe's coffee cans work much better than Pringles' cans.

However the person who does have the ambition to do it probably doesn't need the pringles can to begin with.

True. Also consider that the wireless networks are vulnerable only if they don't use encrypted pre-authentication that must be satisfied prior to getting network access. Consider also that these tricks work only on 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) wireless network hardware, whereas folks like myself are already using the 5 GHz range, which doesn't have as large of a spillover and handles much larger bandwidth.

The article wasn't posted to instruct anyone on the how to's but rather to educate the public to the unknown vulnerability of ourselves and how easy it would be to happen....Maybe the power companies will get some heat.

Call me a skeptic and a cynic, but I doubt it. I've seen power companies and the California Independent System Operator (ISO) get breached six ways to Sunday and they still don't have clue one about security.

Sorry if I seem a bit fiesty about all this. Computer and network security is my career. :)

-Jay

[Fitzcarraldo]

Power lines crossing remote areas are quite vulnerable.
If terrorists had the means to cut the wires at a number
of locations, the nation's entire grid could be shut down in seconds
and repairs would take days, at least. The disruption to the economy would be enormous and it would be very hard to prevent.

[Iris7]

You are right. On the other hand, one man's nightmare scenario "It’s a frightening scenario—a hacker getting into the U.S. electrical grid to cut off millions of people.." frightens me not at all. The results would be trivial, unless, of course, a million people without working television went suddenly berserk at being cut off from the tube!

[Colorado Doug]

Time to ban Pringles!

When Pringles are outlawed only outlaws will have Pringles

[7MMmag]

...Trader Joe's coffee cans work much better than Pringles' cans. But is the coffee any good? I've seen a (perhaps THE) packaging line for T.J.'s coffee, in South San Fransico. The cans are inverted, filled from the "bottom" as it were, then sealed with a metal band---but loosely enough, just enough, to let the CO2 (which freshly roasted coffee emits for about three days or so) escape. Otherwise, the "foil" rip-top, at the top end of the can, would bulge upwards like a balloon. The told me that using just the one old Burns Brothers "two-bagger" (300+ lb. batch) drum roaster, they could roast and package 15-20,000 lbs. in one day. Before one says, "that's a lot of coffee!", know that one "lot" of coffee, is in actuality, approx. 250 bags (green), or 37,500 lbs. I've never tried the coffee from T.J.'s... Some of it might be o.k., or even good, though all I've gotten so far in commentary from others, "in the know" about fine coffees, is "it's not very good". Send a reply privately, if any have opinions--- then I may go and try some myself.

[martin gibson]

[ppaul]

Hey, you gotta working link to the article?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the ping!

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for posting this, but I am sure that our esteemed Governor here in California would never let this happen!

[lewislynn]

Thanks for posting this, but I am sure that our esteemed Governor here in California would never let this happen!

I'd like to think he would if he had a clue...but sadly.....

[lewislynn]

Hey, you gotta working link to the article?