In December 2015 a presumed Russian cyber-attacker successfully seized control of the Prykarpattyaoblenergo Control Center (PCC) in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of Western Ukraine, leaving 230,000 without power for up to 6 hours. This marked the first time that a cyber weapon was successfully used against a nation’s power grid. The attackers were skilled strategists who carefully planned their assault over many months, first doing reconnaissance to study the networks and siphon operator credentials, then launching a synchronized assault in a well-choreographed dance. The control systems in Ukraine were surprisingly more secure than some in the U.S., since they were well-segmented from the control center business networks with robust firewalls, emphasizing just how vulnerable power systems are globally.
The above paragraph was written by Daniel Wagner in the Huffington Post on May 24 of this year. He goes on to warn that most Americans have a false sense of security and are becoming complacent,even in the face of the fact that governments, businesses and individuals are all being targeted on an exponential basis with infrastructure being the target of choice.
Those who would cause us harm in that way take delight in destroying and disrupting the systems that we think of as being impenetrable. It has become a challenge to them, and if we choose to ignore our vulnerability, we do so in the face of certain disaster, because as Admiral Mike Rogers , Commander of the Cyber Command, and Director of the National Security Agency, has recently said, “They are coming.”
“It is only a matter of the ‘when,’ not the ‘if’—we’re going to see a nation-state, group, or actor engage in destructive behavior against critical infrastructure in the United States,” the Admiral said in a speech March 2.
At the beginning of 2016, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report which downplayed the threat of future cyber attacks against America’s power grid. But by the time April had come around they began to realize the urgency of the problem and decided to join forces with the FBI to start a program warning all utility installations around the country about the dangers of forthcoming attacks.
A U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing also recently discussed cyber-security of the power sector and identified the most pressing concern as the need to create post-attack plans to assist the affected populations. While our government has plans in place to deal with how we handle natural disasters, we have no disaster relief plans on coping with a downed power grid.
In 2003 we had a blackout in the Northeast part of the country which was caused by the same system as was used in the Ukraine. It caused 11 deaths and an estimated $6 billion in economic damages, and disrupted power over a wide area for at least two days.
It is interesting to note that this blackout was publicly attributed to a downed power line rather than a cyber attack because our government had decided that the public was not yet prepared to learn about cyber attacks, according to Wegner, who is Managing Director of Risk Cooperative, and co-author of Global Risk Agility And Decision Making.
I listened very carefully during all the months of the recent presidential campaign, hoping to hear at least one of the candidates address this issue. Unless I missed it, I did not hear anyone at either the national nor state level ever mention it. Last weekend I heard a news report warning of a possible attack on the power grid on either Monday or Tuesday of this week. Thankfully, that did not happen, but as Admiral Rogers has said, we continue to ignore the constant threat to our peril.
The above paragraph was written by Daniel Wagner in the Huffington Post on May 24 of this year. He goes on to warn that most Americans have a false sense of security and are becoming complacent,even in the face of the fact that governments, businesses and individuals are all being targeted on an exponential basis with infrastructure being the target of choice.
Those who would cause us harm in that way take delight in destroying and disrupting the systems that we think of as being impenetrable. It has become a challenge to them, and if we choose to ignore our vulnerability, we do so in the face of certain disaster, because as Admiral Mike Rogers , Commander of the Cyber Command, and Director of the National Security Agency, has recently said, “They are coming.”
“It is only a matter of the ‘when,’ not the ‘if’—we’re going to see a nation-state, group, or actor engage in destructive behavior against critical infrastructure in the United States,” the Admiral said in a speech March 2.
At the beginning of 2016, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report which downplayed the threat of future cyber attacks against America’s power grid. But by the time April had come around they began to realize the urgency of the problem and decided to join forces with the FBI to start a program warning all utility installations around the country about the dangers of forthcoming attacks.
A U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing also recently discussed cyber-security of the power sector and identified the most pressing concern as the need to create post-attack plans to assist the affected populations. While our government has plans in place to deal with how we handle natural disasters, we have no disaster relief plans on coping with a downed power grid.
In 2003 we had a blackout in the Northeast part of the country which was caused by the same system as was used in the Ukraine. It caused 11 deaths and an estimated $6 billion in economic damages, and disrupted power over a wide area for at least two days.
It is interesting to note that this blackout was publicly attributed to a downed power line rather than a cyber attack because our government had decided that the public was not yet prepared to learn about cyber attacks, according to Wegner, who is Managing Director of Risk Cooperative, and co-author of Global Risk Agility And Decision Making.
I listened very carefully during all the months of the recent presidential campaign, hoping to hear at least one of the candidates address this issue. Unless I missed it, I did not hear anyone at either the national nor state level ever mention it. Last weekend I heard a news report warning of a possible attack on the power grid on either Monday or Tuesday of this week. Thankfully, that did not happen, but as Admiral Rogers has said, we continue to ignore the constant threat to our peril.
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