The Cyber Threat: Cybercom Trains for Infrastructure Attack as Power Companies Play Down Threat to Grid

Cyber Guard war games simulate major cyber attack

The U.S. Cyber Command will conduct large-scale military exercises this week simulating cyber attacks against critical U.S. infrastructure, and the war games will highlight the growing threat posed by foreign states capable of crippling the electrical grid and financial networks through digital attacks.

The exercise, known as Cyber Guard 16, is the latest annual war game involving scores of military personnel and civilians at the Fort Meade-based command. Other players will include officials from the Pentagon, FBI, Homeland Security Department, and private industry.

The Coming Blood Moons

Note: This post from April 10th of 2014 has now been reposted and will remain on top until the final blood moon has come to pass.

No matter what walk of life you come from, there comes a time when something extraordinary needs special attention. This one falls in the way of Bible prophecy.

The following article relates to the four blood moons, or Tetrad, that are coming, all on major Jewish holidays. While this could be explained further into depth here, with our without this feature article, the article itself best describes the upcoming events, the significance, and why it’s more than just a coincidence.

(The article is in its full entirety, minus a few photos, and shall remain at the top of all articles until April 17th, 2014.)

Iran Nuke Reactor Hits Capacity

Iran’s Russian-built nuclear power plant in Bushehr hit capacity on Tuesday and was hooked into the country’s national power grid, according to Iranian officials.

‘Our Death Toll Would Be Staggering’: Judge Jeanine on Power Grid Threats

The following is the transcript of Judge Jeanine Pirro’s opening statement regarding threats to our nation’s power grid.

Welcome to a special edition of Justice – I’m Judge Jeanine Pirro.  Tonight – an hour long investigation into the dangers facing the U.S. power grid. What would it take to bring it down?  And if our system did break down – how would you survive?  And what would it be like in the dark?

Double threat: US grid vulnerable on two fronts

Consensus is growing that the U.S. electricity grid is vulnerable to both hacking and physical attacks, but protecting it remains a work in progress—especially given the spending that would be necessary by financially stretched utilities.

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M. Granger Morgan, the head of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, told CNBC that a physical attack on the grid poses a “much greater threat” than a cyberattack. Still, he added that vulnerabilities within the technological network of the power system itself require “real and urgent attenuation.”

The Complex ‘Military-Style’ Raid on California Power Station Spooks U.S.

When U.S. officials warn about “attacks” on electric power facilities these days, the first thing that comes to mind is probably a computer hacker trying to shut the lights off in a city with malware. But a more traditional attack on a power station in California has U.S. officials puzzled and worried about the physical security of the the electrical grid–from attackers who come in with guns blazing.

Around 1:00 AM on April 16, at least one individual (possibly two) entered two different manholes at the PG&E Metcalf power substation, southeast of San Jose, and cut fiber cables in the area around the substation. That knocked out some local 911 services, landline service to the substation, and cell phone service in the area, a senior U.S. intelligence official told Foreign Policy. The intruder(s) then fired more than 100 rounds from what two officials described as a high-powered rifle at several transformers in the facility. Ten transformers were damaged in one area of the facility, and three transformer banks — or groups of transformers — were hit in another, according to a PG&E spokesman.

Chinese troops will have boots on the ground in Hawaii on Tuesday

Members of the PLA who will be learning weak spots and crisis procedure during a time of emergency apparently don’t throw up red flags for U.S. intelligence agencies or the military.

A previous article on this can be found here:

Iowa utilities joining drill simulating knockout blow to nation’s power grid

Aloha Hawaiians!  If you see what you think are soldiers from the Communist Peoples Republic of China Army wandering about in your neck of the woods Tuesday through Thursday next week, your imagination is not playing tricks on you.

For the first time in history the U.S. Army will host the Communist Peoples Republic of China’s Army on American soil Nov. 12-14, 2013.

But don’t worry while Chinese soldiers will have boots on the ground in Hawaii, they are only really “simulating”.

Exclusive: Cyberattack leaves natural gas pipelines vulnerable to sabotage

For further information on SCADAs, please see the following Global Geopolitics entries that were ahead of the curve:

• Security backdoor found in China-made US military chip
• UPDATE 3: U.S. probes cyber attack on water system

“Red Dragon Rising: Communist China’s Military Threat to America” from 1999 is a highly recommended read. The United States is in more vulnerable than most people know, and longer than most people would have thought.

Cyberspies linked to China’s military targeted nearly two dozen US natural gas pipeline operators over a recent six-month period, stealing information that could be used to sabotage US gas pipelines, according to a restricted US government report and a source familiar with the government investigation.

From December 2011 through June 2012, cyberspies targeted 23 gas pipeline companies with e-mails crafted to deceive key personnel into clicking on malicious links or file attachments that let the attackers slip into company networks, says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report.

The report does not mention China, but the digital signatures of the attacks have been identified by independent cybersecurity researchers as belonging to a particular espionage group recently linked to China’s military.

The confluence of these factors –  along with the sensitive operational and technical details that were stolen – make the cyberbreaches perhaps among the most serious so far, some experts say. The stolen information could give an adversary all the insider knowledge necessary to blow up not just a few compressor stations but perhaps many of them simultaneously, effectively holding the nation’s gas infrastructure hostage. Nearly 30 percent of the nation’s power grid now relies on natural gas generation.

“This theft of key information is about hearing the footsteps get closer and closer,” says William Rush, a retired scientist formerly with the Gas Technology Institute who chaired the effort to create a cybersecurity standard applicable to the gas pipeline industry.

“Anyone can blow up a gas pipeline with dynamite. But with this stolen information, if I wanted to blow up not one, but 1,000 compressor stations, I could,” he adds. “I could put the attack vectors in place, let them sit there for years, and set them all off at the same time. I don’t have to worry about getting people physically in place to do the job, I just pull the trigger with one mouse click.”

‘Malicious Disruptions’ Threaten Financial System: Fed Official

A top Federal Reserve official warned on Tuesday of potential risks to financial stability from cyberattacks on the U.S. payments system and from a looming funding gap in public pensions.

Lockhart is the latest in a string of government officials and corporate executives who have warned of the potential danger of cyberattacks on the U.S. In October, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned that the U.S. faced the possibility of a “cyber-Pearl Harbor” from hackers who could dismantle the nation’s power grid, transportation system, and financial and government networks.

Panetta Warns of Dire Threat of Cyberattack on U.S.

This has been known for decades and they have had the capability for decades. They being China and Russia. Iran is the only new variable and phenomenon. Chinese chips are used in virtually almost everthing in the United States from home PCs to military fighter jets, ICBM and missile defense networks, and even Pentagon computer networks. When the US has disarmed enough or whenever the Sino-Soviet axis decides it’s tired of the US money printing, they could likely shut down the country with manchurian chips whenever they please.

Studies have shown that this could effectively kill upwards of 100 million Americans as vital infrastructure shuts down or becomes tainted. This includes hospitals, food processing plants, water systems or even pharamaceutical manufacturers that produce medications for the sick and elderly. The nation would be in a full blown crisis.

The warning decades later is scarier than the threat itself. How blind and how far behind is the intelligence community?

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned Thursday that the United States was facing the possibility of a “cyber-Pearl Harbor” and was increasingly vulnerable to foreign computer hackers who could dismantle the nation’s power grid, transportation system, financial networks and government.

Chinese hackers took over NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals

As mentioned in a previous post where it was detailed that the US water system was under attack, this should not come as a surprise. It should also not come as a surprise that the power grid has been compromised, satellites have been compromised, the US Chamber of Commerce has been compromised, to name a few. There is a more lengthy history than what was mentioned dating back to the 1990’s and possibly during the 1980’s. You’d think this normally would raise alarm bells with the average citizen, but it doesn’t. All in all, the real issue at hand is the lack of preparation(s) by the US government in preventing another assault. Should some event such as the national power grid going offline happen, we are simply not prepared.

Chinese hackers gained control over NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in November, which could have allowed them delete sensitive files, add user accounts to mission-critical systems, upload hacking tools, and more — all at a central repository of U.S. space technology, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon by the Office of the Inspector General.

That report revealed scant details of an ongoing investigation into the incident against the Pasadena, Calif., lab, noting only that cyberattacks against the JPL involved Chinese-based Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

Paul K. Martin, NASA’s inspector general, put his conclusions bluntly.

“The attackers had full functional control over these networks,” he wrote.

JPL is a jewel in NASA’s space technology crown.

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“In 2010 and 2011, NASA reported 5,408 computer security incidents that resulted in the installation of malicious software on or unauthorized access to its systems,” his report states. “These incidents spanned a wide continuum from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organized criminal enterprises hacking for profit.”

Other incidents “may have been sponsored by foreign intelligence services seeking to further their countries’ objectives,” he noted.

Full article: Chinese hackers took over NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals (Fox News)