Massive Blackout Cripples Northeast (good summary)

FoxNews ^ | Aug. 14, 2003 | Sharon Kehnemui

[FairOpinion]

WASHINGTON

[TheFrog]

Re: "I wonder if they assumed a terrorist attack and invoked a total shutdown. That would explain the grid failure" <-- G.A.C. NOT

[bonesmccoy]

say...wasn't Sean Hannity recently in cinci?

[FairOpinion]

"I wonder if they assumed a terrorist attack and invoked a total shutdown. That would explain the grid failure. "

==

You may have a point.

Outage Triggers Emergency Plans

Excerpt:

NEW YORK -- For the New York Police Department, Thursday's blackout almost instantly triggered a set of security precautions put in place after the World Trade Center attack.

Heavily armed teams of special counterterror officers moved into place at city landmarks and other sensitive locations, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. Officials swiftly realized the power outage was not an act of terror and then used teams to make sure no one took advantage of the blackout to strike at a terror target, Kelly said.

[Don W]

What about the elderly, or handicapped who live in high rise buildings? The pumps that supply the water to upper stories (those above the 6th or so floor) won't run without power, so these folks can't even run the tap for a glass of water, let alone a cool bath.

That sounds pretty serious to me.

[Don W]

I do agrre with you on the rest of your post, mind you.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Along the same lines, I found an astonishing amount of information regarding cyberterrorism; and more specifically, the nations' power grids.

It was interesting, thought I'd share it.

There are two fundamental ways for terrorists to disrupt a power grid: a physical attack or an internet based cyber attack.

"The event I fear most is a physical attack in conjunction with a successful cyber-attack on the responders' 911 system or on the power grid," Ronald Dick, director of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center

Power grid control systems, meanwhile, are vulnerable to computer hackers.

A National Security Agency mock attack on systems that control the power grid in the late 1990s found that a cyber attack could bring down the grid.

Could cyberterrorists really take control of a dam or a power plant

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Correct Link (duh):

Power grid control systems, meanwhile, are vulnerable to computer hackers

[FairOpinion]

Thanks for the collection of links.

Yes, I think it would be (was?) only too easy for them.
In your second link it says they actually found an AQ computer which showed they were working on such things:

"One al Qaeda laptop found in Afghanistan, sources said, had made multiple visits to a French site run by the Societé Anonyme, or Anonymous Society. The site offers a two-volume online "Sabotage Handbook" with sections on tools of the trade, planning a hit, switch gear and instrumentation, anti-surveillance methods and advanced techniques. In Islamic chat rooms, other computers linked to al Qaeda had access to "cracking" tools used to search out networked computers, scan for security flaws and exploit them to gain entry -- or full command.

Most significantly, perhaps, U.S. investigators have found evidence in the logs that mark a browser's path through the Internet that al Qaeda operators spent time on sites that offer software and programming instructions for the digital switches that run power, water, transport and communications grids. In some interrogations, the most recent of which was reported to policymakers last week, al Qaeda prisoners have described intentions, in general terms, to use those tools."

[ChemistCat]

Mostly, I think people who live in such situations should prepare themselves. Store a little water. How hard is that? The elderly have been around, and if they are competant to live alone, they know this. The disabled are supposed to have people taking care of them. I'm not unsympathetic to folks who have a genuine problem--but most people are overgrown babies who think the government should wipe their chins for them. Preparedness isn't a freakish thing Y2K made briefly fashionable. It should be a way of life. A blanket in the car if you live in blizzard country, some drinking and washing water if you live in a high rise. How hard is that? It's not rocket science.

God help us all if we actually have a dirty bomb go off in Manhattan or Seattle. Nobody knows how to do doodly squat for themselves in a crisis anymore.

[angcat]

Are the lights back on in Westchester, how is Yonkers?

[God luvs America]

I was at the gym and they wnet out about 10:10; by the time I got home at 10:50 they were and now are on.

[1Old Pro]

Can anyone tell me what Hillary and Schumer did to prevent this ? (NOTHING)

[GOPologist]

Hildebeast did only what she knows to do: She blamed the President. Sheesh!!!