New Terror Report Warns of Insider Threat to Utilities

[LawDog76]

Something I thought that may be of interest of everyone here.

Terror Warning Warns of Insider Threat to Infrastructure - ABC News

 

[Exodus]

I'm sorry but flipping a switch in a control room is not going to take any part of any grid down.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Once again I will refer to Greg Garrison's 1991 book The Devil's Playground (out of print but the Marion County Public Library used to have a copy) where the RIF scheme was to take out a large number of of power substation transformers - which are so reliable and so expensive that they are not kept in stock - which, in turn, caused a massive failure of the national power grid. He didn't pull that plot out of his @$$; he got it from talking to power company executives and security specialists.

You may not be able to "flip a switch" to take out a power grid, but you do need to understand its various vulnerabilities. The 911 plotters spent years researching the necessary steps to accomplish their mission and more years infiltrating and acquiring the means to carry it out. We're fooling ourselves if we think that our RIF enemies can't take the long view; we have only to look at the records declassified by the Soviets to see how their long-range espionage and influence operations unfolded and we have plenty of recent evidence that the Chinese have long been involved in similar operations.

 

[woowoo2]

Programmable logic controllers.
Once on the net, they can be manipulated from afar.
Israel has been messing with Iran for years by screwing with their controllers in their nuke processing plants.

 

[hondatech2k2]

This is just more hype to keep the government's hopes alive. You see, the more they make us "think" there is a boogey man out to get us...the more willing we are to give up personal liberties for the sake of security. And a wise man once said.."If you sacrifice liberty for security, you deserve neither".

 

[mrjarrell]

Once again I will refer to Greg Garrison's 1991 book The Devil's Playground (out of print but the Marion County Public Library used to have a copy) where the RIF scheme was to take out a large number of of power substation transformers - which are so reliable and so expensive that they are not kept in stock - which, in turn, caused a massive failure of the national power grid. He didn't pull that plot out of his @$$; he got it from talking to power company executives and security specialists.

You may not be able to "flip a switch" to take out a power grid, but you do need to understand its various vulnerabilities. The 911 plotters spent years researching the necessary steps to accomplish their mission and more years infiltrating and acquiring the means to carry it out. We're fooling ourselves if we think that our RIF enemies can't take the long view; we have only to look at the records declassified by the Soviets to see how their long-range espionage and influence operations unfolded and we have plenty of recent evidence that the Chinese have long been involved in similar operations.

Actually, he stole the idea wholesale from G. Gordon Liddy's article on terrorism from back in the 80's in Omni Magazine. Garrison's never had an original thought in his life.

 

[nawainwright]

Desperately trying to keep the populous scared.

 

[longbow]

I'm sorry but flipping a switch in a control room is not going to take any part of any grid down.

But one place just north of indy has a switch(s) that could do that...

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Once a substantial area of a power grid goes down, getting it back in service is much more involved than just "hitting a switch".

 

[jeremy]

I am not even remotely concerned about this...

 

[longbow]

A large farm tractor hitting a high voltage tower and knocking it down is a bigger threat..............

 

[jeremy]

A large farm tractor hitting a high voltage tower and knocking it down is a bigger threat..............

An Incompetent Auto/Truck Driver is a bigger threat to those...

 

[Expat]

keep an eye out for roaming Norwegians.

 

[Octomonkey]

It has been almost 10 years now. Gotta keep coming up with ways to keep the people afraid and in line.

 

[woowoo2]

Google search opens SCADA systems to doomsday scenarios -- Engadget

Why do companies put this type of equipment on the net?
When will they learn?

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Most companies are in business to make profits for the owners or investors. Risk Management and Hazard Analyses are generally far down on the scale of things to consider - unless the government or some other source makes them considerations. If a piece of equipment or a process will make a business more profitable, the business will usually buy it - and salespeople generally aren't concerned with pushing (or researching) the weaknesses of their products.

 

[warangelcometh]

Reading the book "Full Black" right now and it talks about this kind of scenario. I work for an electric/gas utility and can assure you that this kind of threat is very scary. Especially with the idea of taking out key substations across the grid. The people who claim we don't have the necessary equipment to replace a large scale assault on our transformers are correct. There is a story line in the above mentioned book that entertains the idea that Chinese hackers were responsible for the large outage/blackout in 2003 when one of the Trojan horse viruses they were planting in our grid logic was accidentally set off. Make no mistake, take away peoples electricity and watch the chaos erupt. This is a very real threat potential that we all need to be prepared for.

 

[Hemingway]

I don't think anyone should live in a spirit of fear, but blowing off potential threats like this doesn't seem particularly wise. All of our infrastructure is very fragile and interconnected like never before.

Being completely unconcerned about any of this seems akin to trusting the government that they'll take care of everything and make sure that no matter what, we'll all have power and utilities 100% of the time, especially for those critical functions such as staying current on Dancing With the Stars episodes.

A bunch of people thought Noah was fear-mongering when he started building that really big boat

 

[msuspartan]

The problem is very real and a threat to our National security. Now, while I KNOW we can deal with this, people on the other hand cannot. Most of the population are sheep that are easily frightened and do more to make a managable situation a disaster.
When I served in the Army, one of my jobs was to disrupt and constrict a cities ability to support it's emergency management protocols. Power was the number one with water the next in how to promote chaos.
Remember, without power the ability to communicate, refrigerate, monitor and move info is gone. When you cannot talk to friends, family or listen to broadcasts the populas will begin to panic. Especially when food and water are not available.
I work with a power company here in Indiana and have friends with the grid management and it is not hard to disrupt the system. That is why there is a management system to reroute power through other lines.
But the threat is real and I would be more worried as to an airborne biological than a power attack. Especially by knocking out sub stations. Too much manpower to successfully achieve. But still a viable threat.

Just my 2p worth!!

 

[dieselman]

unless a power grid failure turns out like the most recent toshiba commercial (power goes out=bad milk=zombie uprising), i think we will be fine.