Cyber spies hit electricity grid

[Dredly]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123914805204099085.html

WASHINGTON -- Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

"The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," said a senior intelligence official. "So have the Russians."

The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn't target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official said, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year.

Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.

Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, "If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on."

Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

"Over the past several years, we have seen cyberattacks against critical infrastructures abroad, and many of our own infrastructures are as vulnerable as their foreign counterparts, " Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair recently told lawmakers. "A number of nations, including Russia and China, can disrupt elements of the U.S. information infrastructure."

Officials cautioned that the motivation of the cyberspies wasn't well understood, and they don't see an immediate danger. China, for example, has little incentive to disrupt the U.S. economy because it relies on American consumers and holds U.S. government debt.

But protecting the electrical grid and other infrastructure is a key part of the Obama administration's cybersecurity review, which is to be completed next week. Under the Bush administration, Congress approved $17 billion in secret funds to protect government networks, according to people familiar with the budget. The Obama administration is weighing whether to expand the program to address vulnerabilities in private computer networks, which would cost billions of dollars more. A senior Pentagon official said Tuesday the Pentagon has spent $100 million in the past six months repairing cyber damage.

Overseas examples show the potential havoc. In 2000, a disgruntled employee rigged a computerized control system at a water-treatment plant in Australia, releasing more than 200,000 gallons of sewage into parks, rivers and the grounds of a Hyatt hotel.

Last year, a senior Central Intelligence Agency official, Tom Donohue, told a meeting of utility company representatives in New Orleans that a cyberattack had taken out power equipment in multiple regions outside the U.S. The outage was followed with extortion demands, he said.

The U.S. electrical grid comprises three separate electric networks, covering the East, the West and Texas. Each includes many thousands of miles of transmission lines, power plants and substations. The flow of power is controlled by local utilities or regional transmission organizations. The growing reliance of utilities on Internet-based communication has increased the vulnerability of control systems to spies and hackers, according to government reports.

The sophistication of the U.S. intrusions -- which extend beyond electric to other key infrastructure systems -- suggests that China and Russia are mainly responsible, according to intelligence officials and cybersecurity specialists. While terrorist groups could develop the ability to penetrate U.S. infrastructure, they don't appear to have yet mounted attacks, these officials say.

It is nearly impossible to know whether or not an attack is government-sponsored because of the difficulty in tracking true identities in cyberspace. U.S. officials said investigators have followed electronic trails of stolen data to China and Russia.

Russian and Chinese officials have denied any wrongdoing. "These are pure speculations," said Yevgeniy Khorishko, a spokesman at the Russian Embassy. "Russia has nothing to do with the cyberattacks on the U.S. infrastructure, or on any infrastructure in any other country in the world."

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Wang Baodong, said the Chinese government "resolutely oppose[s] any crime, including hacking, that destroys the Internet or computer network" and has laws barring the practice. China was ready to cooperate with other countries to counter such attacks, he said, and added that "some people overseas with Cold War mentality are indulged in fabricating the sheer lies of the so-called cyberspies in China."

Utilities are reluctant to speak about the dangers. "Much of what we've done, we can't talk about," said Ray Dotter, a spokesman at PJM Interconnection LLC, which coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in 13 states and the District of Columbia. He said the organization has beefed up its security, in conformance with federal standards.

In January 2008, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved new protection measures that required improvements in the security of computer servers and better plans for handling attacks.

Last week, Senate Democrats introduced a proposal that would require all critical infrastructure companies to meet new cybersecurity standards and grant the president emergency powers over control of the grid systems and other infrastructure.

Specialists at the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit research institute, said attack programs search for openings in a network, much as a thief tests locks on doors. Once inside, these programs and their human controllers can acquire the same access and powers as a systems administrator.
NERC Letter

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation on Tuesday warned its members that not all of them appear to be adhering to cybersecuirty requirements. Read the letter.

The White House review of cybersecurity programs is studying ways to shield the electrical grid from such attacks, said James Lewis, who directed a study for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and has met with White House reviewers.

The reliability of the grid is ultimately the responsibility of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., an independent standards-setting organization overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The NERC set standards last year requiring companies to designate "critical cyber assets." Companies, for example, must check the backgrounds of employees and install firewalls to separate administrative networks from those that control electricity flow. The group will begin auditing compliance in July.

That would probably bring our country to its knees in a matter of seconds.

[Warners Surplus]

That would probably bring our country to its knees in a matter of seconds.

It has always been my opinion that if "they" ever took out the grid that the unprepared would turn this country inside out in a matter of days.

If you REALLY want to get the general populace to react then take away Joe six packs cold beer and monday night football and at the same time, kill all the hair dryers,cell phone,nail salons etc. THEN see what happens!!


Rich W.

[Dredly]

It has always been my opinion that if "they" ever took out the grid that the unprepared would turn this country inside out in a matter of days.

If you REALLY want to get the general populace to react then take away Joe six packs cold beer and monday night football and at the same time, kill all the hair dryers,cell phone,nail salons etc. THEN see what happens!!


Rich W.

days? hah try minutes. within minutes of widespread outages there would be riots in the cities and so many car accidents that everything would just shut down. No credit cards, atm's, cell phones, computers, internet, gas pumps, cash registers.... everything would just stop.

Look what happened in the NE when that massive outage occured, now make that country wide

[Warners Surplus]

days? hah try minutes. within minutes of widespread outages there would be riots in the cities and so many car accidents that everything would just shut down. No credit cards, atm's, cell phones, computers, internet, gas pumps, cash registers.... everything would just stop.

Look what happened in the NE when that massive outage occured, now make that country wide

Actually things were quite calm and orderly during the NE blackout because people found out quick that t was going to be short lived.

As for taking out the ENTIRE grid, that is not an easy thig to do because the grid is broken up into 4 sections.

But take out the entire eastern grid in the dead of winter so people don't have heat and then tell them you have no idea when service will be restored and WOW what a mess and quick.

We had a winter power outage that lasted 10 days for some of us a couple years back and it wasn't bad until the 3rd day when people started emptying Mr Z's of anything and everything that could be made without a stove. There wasn't a single bottle of water on any store shelf for 20 miles. By the 5th day PP&L was giving people water and ice.

Now if that would have happened to the entire eastern grid and NO deliveries hit the stores and no gas stations were open and people had to use a rock to open a can of spaghetti. It would have gotten down right nasty.

If/when it happens it will NOT be a nice scene to watch unfold. People have big screen TV's and stainless side by side frig's, blue ray disc players etc etc but fail to have a hand can opener handy and most have one flashlight with dead batteries or they need to smack it a few time to get it to come on.

YUP, you want to destroy this country? then take out the grid and watch the sheep scramble!


Rich W.

[Pector55]

Actually things were quite calm and orderly during the NE blackout because people found out quick that t was going to be short lived.

As for taking out the ENTIRE grid, that is not an easy thig to do because the grid is broken up into 4 sections.

But take out the entire eastern grid in the dead of winter so people don't have heat and then tell them you have no idea when service will be restored and WOW what a mess and quick.

We had a winter power outage that lasted 10 days for some of us a couple years back and it wasn't bad until the 3rd day when people started emptying Mr Z's of anything and everything that could be made without a stove. There wasn't a single bottle of water on any store shelf for 20 miles. By the 5th day PP&L was giving people water and ice.

Now if that would have happened to the entire eastern grid and NO deliveries hit the stores and no gas stations were open and people had to use a rock to open a can of spaghetti. It would have gotten down right nasty.

If/when it happens it will NOT be a nice scene to watch unfold. People have big screen TV's and stainless side by side frig's, blue ray disc players etc etc but fail to have a hand can opener handy and most have one flashlight with dead batteries or they need to smack it a few time to get it to come on.

YUP, you want to destroy this country? then take out the grid and watch the sheep scramble!


Rich W.

You guys should read the book, "Lights Out." The premise is that the U.S. was hit with a few nukes far enough above the country so that most folks had no idea anything happened but the EMP blast knocked out electronics/electricity. The book covers how the government gets the word out that they expect it to be short-term even though they know otherwise. The book gets you thinking about who in your community you could rely on and how valuable water would be in a situation like that.

After reading that book, Kentucky got hit with the ice storms and really lead me to see a need for adding an ancillary wood stove in my garage. We really should stop being so dependent on others in this country.

[Dredly]

Actually things were quite calm and orderly during the NE blackout because people found out quick that t was going to be short lived.

As for taking out the ENTIRE grid, that is not an easy thig to do because the grid is broken up into 4 sections.

But take out the entire eastern grid in the dead of winter so people don't have heat and then tell them you have no idea when service will be restored and WOW what a mess and quick.

We had a winter power outage that lasted 10 days for some of us a couple years back and it wasn't bad until the 3rd day when people started emptying Mr Z's of anything and everything that could be made without a stove. There wasn't a single bottle of water on any store shelf for 20 miles. By the 5th day PP&L was giving people water and ice.

Now if that would have happened to the entire eastern grid and NO deliveries hit the stores and no gas stations were open and people had to use a rock to open a can of spaghetti. It would have gotten down right nasty.

If/when it happens it will NOT be a nice scene to watch unfold. People have big screen TV's and stainless side by side frig's, blue ray disc players etc etc but fail to have a hand can opener handy and most have one flashlight with dead batteries or they need to smack it a few time to get it to come on.

YUP, you want to destroy this country? then take out the grid and watch the sheep scramble!


Rich W.

Yup I remember that, if I remember correctly some disgruntled former power company worker decided to put a bullet through a transformer? We were lucky enough to burn coal so we didn't lose heat but it sucked pretty hard core

[Warners Surplus]

Yup I remember that, if I remember correctly some disgruntled former power company worker decided to put a bullet through a transformer? We were lucky enough to burn coal so we didn't lose heat but it sucked pretty hard core

I don't remember what exactly started the cascade but I remember it could have been stoped early with the flick of a switch but someone hesitated so it continued to cascade.

We have propane heat with fireplace backup and a stand by gen set so we were ok but the entire neighborhood around us was in shambles for a few days.



Rich W.

[JayBell]

sounds like these morons running the grid computer systems need a good firewall and nework security analyst.

[762xIan]

Wow....here I sit in a 600 MW power plant....and I feel so vulnerable!

I am pretty intimate with many of the "inner workings" of how the various grids function. The actual controls that computers are "in charge of" are minimal. The actual computer controls are more for "real time" monitoring, revenue payments and energy pricing. As far as the grid running and being stable......It still boils down to an actual transmission operator in a control room to do switching that affects the grid and various portions of it. Especially in emergencies.

This article has a lot of hype, trying to fearmonger and panic...and it makes me wonder why?

While the transmission grid/grids have issues...most are tied to a lack of infrastructure..i.e. we need more transmission lines. The actual control of Power delivered and needed, especially within the PJM system is very well managed and maintained.

Don't believe all the hype from the article....this blurb is raises a red flag..

Last week, Senate Democrats introduced a proposal that would require all critical infrastructure companies to meet new cybersecurity standards and grant the president emergency powers over control of the grid systems and other infrastructure.

Hmmm....give the president emergency powers to do what exactly? Nationalize it?

[PocketProtector]

Don't worry, we'll give them a "stern response"

"Kumbaya my Komrade Kumbaya "

And we promise to get rid of our Nukes too !