DHS To Review Report On US Power Grid Vulnerability

CWmike writes "The US Department of Homeland Security is looking at a report by a research scientist in China that shows how a well-placed attack against a small power subnetwork could trigger a cascading failure of the entire West Coast power grid. Jian-Wei Wang, a network analyst at China's Dalian University of Technology, used publicly available information to model how the West Coast grid and its component subnetworks are connected. Wang and another colleague then investigated how a major outage in one subnetwork would affect adjacent subnetworks. New Scientist magazine reported on this a week or so ago, and the paper has been available since the spring."

Re:Don't worry

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux is so ancient, convoluted and in such a massive state of disrepair that we can be sure we're safe from viruses. They wouldn't even know where to begin to find a point in the system that could be used to trigger a catastrophic cascading failure like the one that is the Linux OS itself.

Fixed your typos there for ya.

Re:Don't worry

[Saliegh]

Everyone knows that a small thermal exhaust port at the end of a long trench is the key to initiating a catastrophic cascading failure.

oh noes

[Lord Ender]

if terra were to plant a nuclear bomb in my apartment, thousands in my neighboorhood could be killed. that's worse than a mere blackout! please give me a large grant so i can upgrade my apartment to a more secure version. think of the children!

This just in...

[It doesn't come easy]

Jian-Wei Wang has just been added to America's Top 10 Most Wanted Terrorist list, according to a DHS spokeperson. "We believe this person has been studying some of our infrastructure with the intent to identify inherent weaknesses. It is only a matter of time before this person, or someone else, uses the knowledge gained to attack the USA." A few moments later, a nearby open microphone caught the DHS official's candid statement "Anyone using information, public or private, to point out our own stupidity is automatically suspect. To go so far as to publish their findings is criminal. Besides, since we can't find any real terrorists, we have to demonize someone so we can continue justifying our astronomical budget in these difficult economic times." After a reporter on the scene brought this admission to the attention of the spokesperson, the reporter's name was also added to the list.

Re:not attacked via the web

[geogob]

Everyone knows that you hack a power grid system with a modem, weird command line interfaces using pseudo-english commands and some fast random typing on a keyboard.

Re:not attacked via the web

[hoggoth]

Jeez. Please read the article before posting. The article states that power company officials have found very small Chinese people hiding in cabinets inside 75% of our power stations. The situation is very precarious.

Re:not attacked via the web

[KraftDinner]

Everyone knows that you hack a power grid system with a modem, weird command line interfaces using pseudo-english commands and some fast random typing on a keyboard.

Don't forget about the swirling numbers and mathematical symbols in the background all the while you can see them flying through the file system.

Re:not attacked via the web

[thynk]

Hack the Gibson!

Re:not attacked via the web

[beckett]

SUPPPLIES!!!!