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."

not attacked via the web

[Chirs]

Obviously you didn't read the article. They're talking about cascading failures due to the fact that they're connected via the electrical grid.

Basically the same thing that happened some years back on the eastern seaboard, but on the west coast and triggered on purpose.

The amazing thing

[guruevi]

The amazing thing is that nobody ever tried it or at least never succeeded. The US is apparently not that hated in the world since nobody ever does anything. We have hundreds of reports on how easy it would be to disable this or take that out of service. All it takes to black out the USA are some well placed charges or for somebody to hit a few poles hard enough but nobody does it. All we got was some measly hijacked plane (which has been done since the 70's) in a few buildings.

Re:The amazing thing

[oodaloop]

All we got was some measly hijacked plane (which has been done since the 70's) in a few buildings.

...whose cost rose into the tens of billions and exacerbated our recession. It didn't topple our economy, which was their aim, but put a dent in it.

Re:not attacked via the web

[ParanoiaBOTS]

Obviously you didn't read the article. They're talking about cascading failures due to the fact that they're connected via the electrical grid. Basically the same thing that happened some years back on the eastern seaboard, but on the west coast and triggered on purpose.

Obviously, you have not read TFA:

News about Wang's research comes at a time when there are considerable concerns about the security of the U.S. power grid. In April, The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous national security officials, reported that cyberspies from China, Russia and elsewhere had gained access to the U.S. electrical grid and had installed malware tools that could be used to shut down service. Though the access hasn't been used to disrupt service, the concern is that the malicious hackers could do so with relatively short notice during a time of crisis or war.

What a prawn.

Actually both you, and your parent post are correct. They are pointing out why the compromised grid is so concerning(aside from the obvious). Couple that malware with this knowledge and you can very effectively take out power for the west coast by targeting a very small subset of stations.
What they are saying is that the outage like we had several years back can be triggered fairly easy, and even scarier, since we are compromised already, someone sitting at a computer could probably just turn off power for all the west coast.

Re:Don't worry

[LoRdTAW]

Have you watched the History Channel special: The crumbling of America? Well if you did the "terrorists" have nothing to worry about, they just have to sit by and watch us fall apart.

The roads are shot along with bridges. Sewer systems overloaded, water supplies in jeopardy, levies and dams in a state of serious disrepair. And an electrical grid that teeters on the edge of blacking out every day.

Its wasn't all doom and gloom as its not too late. Th1ere are many technological advances to replace and update our infrastructure with better and longer lasting replacements. Problem is money, there is simply not enough to go around and in some cases there is no money at all.

Re:The amazing thing

[hoggoth]

> It didn't topple our economy, which was their aim, but put a dent in it.

Yes it did. The cost of the buildings is negligible compared to our GNP. But the cost of the followup war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, DHS, etc have toppled our already shaky economy. What's more their aim wasn't to topple our economy, it was to ruin our way of life. I'd say our descent into security theater, torture, surveillance and paranoia has gone a long way towards destroying our way of life. America the free?

Re:The amazing thing

[dkf]

But the cost of the followup war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq, DHS, etc have toppled our already shaky economy.

Actually, it was the collective stupidity of millions of people that did that. And yes, believing that house prices would always go up in real terms (or that you'd at least be able to guarantee to get out without burning yourself when they stopped) is most certainly stupidity. On the other hand, as long as everyone believed, it almost worked; the only problem was this inconvenient thing called reality...

Re:Don't worry

[sjames]

There IS money, but it's currently busy going up CEOs' noses.

Re:Power Station PLCs should _not_ be connected...

[vtcodger]

***you don't stop flying just because airplanes can crash.***

I expect that you would stop flying if any sociopathic teenager in Belgrade or Sendai could crash your plane from his bedroom with fifteen keystrokes. Would it be rude to point out that cyber security is a disaster area and the situation seems to be deteriorating, not improving?