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The Government Admits The US Power Grid Can Be Taken Out At Any Time Walter Hickey Aug. 1, 2012, 7:00 PM The Government Accountability Office just released a report backing up earlier findings: because a series of recommendations were ignored, the U.S. electric grid remains highly susceptible to cyberattacks. The grid is reliant on a number of IT systems that have known and likely unknown vulnerabilities. The result of a cyberattack on the grid could result in damage to electricity control systems, power outages, and failures in safety equipment on a scale currently unknown. GAO believes that there are still...

REDMOND, Wash. - The world's largest email provider, Microsoft, was struggling to restore its services Friday after outages that reportedly affected up to 365 million users worldwide. The service disruptions affected a variety of Microsoft email products including Office 365, MSN.com, Live@edu and Windows Live Hotmail. The extent of the disruption was unclear, but Microsoft confirmed problems in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. "We're rolling out a fix that we believe will resolve issues with Hotmail, SkyDrive, and our other Live properties," the company tweeted around 2:00am ET. Read more: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/your_money/crash-affects-millions-of-microsoft-users-20110909-ncx#ixzz1XTx8HlYo

SAN DIEGO - A major power outage knocked out electricity to up to 5 million people in California, Arizona, and Mexico yesterday, bringing San Diego and Tijuana to a standstill and leaving people sweltering in the late-summer heat in the surrounding desert. Two nuclear reactors were offline after losing electricity, but officials said there was no danger to the public or workers. San Diego bore the brunt of the blackout; most of the nation’s eighth-largest city was darkened. All outgoing flights from San Diego’s Lindbergh Field were grounded and police stations were using generators to accept emergency calls across the...

Pakistan on Sunday denied rumours of a coup attempt against President Pervez Musharraf while he is visiting the United States. Newspaper offices and journalists were inundated with telephone calls and text messages inquiring about the rumours, which coincided with a widespread power cut. But television programmes did not allude to them until Geo Television ran a ticker headline saying Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani had accused "rumor mongers" of exploiting the power cut. Reuters made checks with senior government as well as military officials, and journalists saw nothing unusual in the capital or the neighboring garrison city of Rawalpindi. Durrani,...

CHENEY WARNS U.S. ON ENERGY AP-NY-03-21-01 1946EST Washington (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney warmed Wednesday that the United States must generate more of its own energy or the country risks power shortages like those in California, but on a national scale. Cheney cited estimates that the United States will need 1,300 new power plants over the next 20 years - roughly 65 each year to have adequate generating capacity. Plus, he said those plants will need other infrastructure, such as a means of obtaining the coal or gas and transmission lines. "Our infrastructure in the energy area is very...