US Video Shows Hacker Hit on Power Grid

[Ishmael]

This threat is very real.

US Video Shows Hacker Hit on Power Grid

Sep 26, 9:19 PM (ET)

By TED BRIDIS and EILEEN SULLIVAN

(AP) In this image from video released by the Department of Homeland Security, smoke pours from an...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - A government video shows the potential destruction caused by hackers seizing control of a crucial part of the U.S. electrical grid: an industrial turbine spinning wildly out of control until it becomes a smoking hulk and power shuts down.

The video, produced for the Homeland Security Department and obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, was marked "Official Use Only." It shows commands quietly triggered by simulated hackers having such a violent reaction that the enormous turbine shudders as pieces fly apart and it belches black-and-white smoke.

The video was produced for top U.S. policy makers by the Idaho National Laboratory, which has studied the little-understood risks to the specialized electronic equipment that operates power, water and chemical plants. Vice President Dick Cheney is among those who have watched the video, said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because this official was not authorized to publicly discuss such high-level briefings.

"They've taken a theoretical attack and they've shown in a very demonstrable way the impact you can have using cyber means and cyber techniques against this type of infrastructure," said Amit Yoran, former U.S. cybersecurity chief for the Bush administration. Yoran is chief executive for NetWitness Corp., which sells sophisticated network monitoring software.

"It's so graphic," Yoran said. "Talking about bits and bytes doesn't have the same impact as seeing something catch fire."

The electrical attack never actually happened. The recorded demonstration, called the "Aurora Generator Test," was conducted in March by government researchers investigating a dangerous vulnerability in computers at U.S. utility companies known as supervisory control and data acquisition systems. The programming flaw was quietly fixed, and equipment-makers urged utilities to take protective measures.

There was no evidence any U.S. utility company suffered damage from hackers or terrorists using this technique, U.S. officials said. But these officials cautioned that affected systems are not routinely monitored as closely as many modern corporate computer networks, so there would be little forensic evidence to study after such a break-in.

Industry experts cautioned that intruders would need specialized knowledge to carry out such attacks, including the ability to turn off warning systems.

"The video is not a realistic representation of how the power system would operate," said Stan Johnson, a manager at the North American Electric Reliability Corp., the Princeton, N.J.-based organization charged with overseeing the power grid.

A top Homeland Security Department official, Robert Jamison, said companies are working to limit such attacks.

"Is this something we should be concerned about? Yes," said Jamison, who oversees the department's cybersecurity division. "But we've taken a lot of risk off the table."

President Bush's top telecommunications advisers concluded years ago that an organization such as a foreign intelligence service or a well-funded terror group "could conduct a structured attack on the electric power grid electronically, with a high degree of anonymity, and without having to set foot in the target nation." Ominously, the Idaho National Laboratory - which produced the new video - has described the risk as "the invisible threat."

Experts said the affected systems were not developed with security in mind.

"What keeps your lights on are some very, very old technology," said Joe Weiss, a security expert who has testified before Congress about such threats. "If you can get access to these systems, you can conceptually cause them to do whatever it is you want them to do."

The Homeland Security Department has been working with industries, especially electrical and nuclear companies, to enhance security measures. The electric industry is still working on their internal assessments and plans, but the nuclear sector has implemented its security measures at all its plants, the government said.

In July the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed a set of standards to help protect the country's bulk electric power supply system from cyber attacks. These standards would require certain users, owners and operators of power grids to establish plans and controls.

Ishmael

 

[Songcatcher]

Nazis propaganda department came back?

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

Paying any attention to the ongoing PLA hack attack?

 

[kamuikamui]

If it's doable, Islamic terrorists would have done already.

Or you think Arabs are technologically backward?

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

If it's doable, Islamic terrorists would have done already.

Or you think Arabs are technologically backward?

No they wouldn't; it would empower Republicans. Democrats think the threat is imaginary...

Do you think they're st-st-stupid?

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

The president is trying to scare the American people into believing that Al-Qaeda is the rationale for continuing the war in Iraq.

John Forbes Kerry (who served in Vietnam and voted for the war before he voted against it.)

 

[Lavared]

If it's doable, Islamic terrorists would have done already.

I think they're more into blowing up bodies than equipment.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

I think they're more into blowing up bodies than equipment.

If the Left's perceived truth is that Bush has made us less safe and more vulnerable with more enemies, then the only reason they are not hitting us has to be a strategic reason. Otherwise, the truths the Left are presenting to us are mere truthiness, gut, "belief..."

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

The president is trying to scare the American people into believing that Al-Qaeda is the rationale for continuing the war in Iraq.

John Forbes Kerry (who served in Vietnam and voted for the war before he voted against it.)

By creating nonexistent enemies, for example, and an insecure atmosphere, they try to control all in the name of combating insecurity and terrorism.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

 

[phrodeau]

The electrical attack never actually happened. The recorded demonstration, called the "Aurora Generator Test," was conducted in March by government researchers investigating a dangerous vulnerability in computers at U.S. utility companies known as supervisory control and data acquisition systems. The programming flaw was quietly fixed, and equipment-makers urged utilities to take protective measures.

There was no evidence any U.S. utility company suffered damage from hackers or terrorists using this technique, U.S. officials said. But these officials cautioned that affected systems are not routinely monitored as closely as many modern corporate computer networks, so there would be little forensic evidence to study after such a break-in.

Industry experts cautioned that intruders would need specialized knowledge to carry out such attacks, including the ability to turn off warning systems.

"The video is not a realistic representation of how the power system would operate," said Stan Johnson, a manager at the North American Electric Reliability Corp., the Princeton, N.J.-based organization charged with overseeing the power grid.

Someone fucked up and they caught it on film.

So the message is that things can go wrong when they're fucked up to begin with. No enemy needed.

 

[phrodeau]

The same argument was made about electronic voting, and the same counter-arguments were made by Diebold.

 

[Nipples___Mcgee]

I'm safe. That wasn't the date I was there.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Mr. President, we cannot afford to ignore the mine shaft gap!

 

[Alt]

We interrupt this news flash to bring you another news flash...

Horny apes have taken over the world!

http://www.moviemantz.com/review_shots/planetorig2.jpg

 

[Ishmael]

If it's doable, Islamic terrorists would have done already.

Or you think Arabs are technologically backward?

The short answer is 'yes,' they are when it comes to scada equipment. Scada machines are completely different software wise and the majority of the major manufacturers equipment are quite different from a hardware standpoint. There isn't that much scada equipment in the Arab world for them to become very proficient with either. Most of the control algorithms are out sourced to US or European firms. Most of the Arabs associated with these systems are operators at best.

The Chinese are a whole different story though.

Ishmael

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

The kings of reverse engineering...

 

[islandman]

If the Left's perceived truth is that Bush has made us less safe and more vulnerable with more enemies, then the only reason they are not hitting us has to be a strategic reason. Otherwise, the truths the Left are presenting to us are mere truthiness, gut, "belief..."

They're blowing up U.S. bodies in Iraq and Afghanistan instead. Seems pretty strategic to me, all without incurring the risk of entering the U.S.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

They're blowing up U.S. bodies in Iraq and Afghanistan instead. Seems pretty strategic to me, all without incurring the risk of entering the U.S.

That's correct. They are doing that because by doing it there, they keep us divided and enable the Democrats to take the "America has been defeated banner" without incurring any risk to themselves, here safe in America. This is how they intend to win a political war of idiology and to put themselves in the position to end the run of the Zionist state.

bin Laden saw us unite and kick his ass out of power the last time he hit us, ergo, it's easier to engineer another Lebanon or Somalia. You help me make my point. Thank you.

 

[Sean]

Anyone else think A_J sounds more and more like a raving lunatic?

 

[islandman]

That's correct. They are doing that because by doing it there, they keep us divided and enable the Democrats to take the "America has been defeated banner" without incurring any risk to themselves, here safe in America. This is how they intend to win a political war of idiology and to put themselves in the position to end the run of the Zionist state.

bin Laden saw us unite and kick his ass out of power the last time he hit us, ergo, it's easier to engineer another Lebanon or Somalia. You help me make my point. Thank you.

America has been defeated? Don't know what part of the country you're from but they're evidently all communists.

Point is, there were multiple opportunities to fight this war smarter. The Republicans failed, preferring 'regime change' rather than a more focused approach. Now even moderate muslims cast worried gazes at us. Time to kick out the ineffective party and let someone else have a had at it.

 

[Cap’n AMatrixca]

America has been defeated? Don't know what part of the country you're from but they're evidently all communists.

Point is, there were multiple opportunities to fight this war smarter. The Republicans failed, preferring 'regime change' rather than a more focused approach. Now even moderate muslims cast worried gazes at us. Time to kick out the ineffective party and let someone else have a had at it.

Harry Reid said so.

Other than the miracle of the six-day war, I don't see how you can go back to any war and not point out the dumb moves...

The party was kicked out of all but the White House and the leading Democrat contenders all said they were in for the long haul, the same damned thing that Bush has been saying. BTW, what's happening there now? Petraeus had to sit there while all of them blasted his failure, but the fact is, violence is rapidly trending downward. By the time we completely change the leadership, they will be in the enviable position of being able to claim, thatsomehow, with all their defeatist rhetoric, that they "won" the war...



I mean remember Schumer? He admitted we're succeeding. He just framed in in terms of we failed so bad that the Iraqis decieded to clean up their act, which is, after all, what the Democrats are demanding they do.

That's one helluva rabbit-hole they've dug...