Could Russian Hackers Cause Power Outages In The U.S.?

 

Hackers believed to be allied with the Russian government have devised a cyberweapon that has the potential to be highly disruptive against the world’s electrical systems, researchers have reported.

The malware, which researchers have dubbed CrashOverride or Industroyer, is known to have disrupted the electrical system in Ukraine in December, briefly shutting down one-fifth of Kyiv’s electric power.

China has cyber capability to take down U.S. power grid, warns NSA

(NaturalNews) The U.S. is vulnerable to cyber attacks from China and other countries capable of shutting down the power grid and disabling vital infrastructure, according to Admiral Michael Rogers, head of both the National Security Agency and the U.S. Cyber Command.

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Cybersecurity firm Mondiant confirmed that China had hacked into U.S. utility systems and has the knowledge potential to exploit vulnerabilities and shut down or disrupt them. Rogers says this could allow Chinese hackers “to shut down very segmented, very tailored parts of our infrastructure that forestall the ability to provide that service to us as citizens.”

How Safe is the US Electrical Grid?

All it takes is a hit on nine substations, then it’s lights out for America and back into the 1800’s for at least a decade — on top of up to 90% of American lives being lost due to the domino effects.

 

Throughout history, inexplicable natural phenomena have tended to instill an understandable fear in people. Accounts of the solar storm of August and September 1859 stand out for their tendency toward the whimsical and delighted.

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For telegraph operators in the Americas and Europe, however, the experience caused chaos. Many found that their lines were simply unusable—they could neither send nor receive messages. Others were able to operate even with their power supplies turned off, using only the current in the air from the solar storm.

U.S. Power Grid Being Hit With ‘Increasing’ Hacking Attacks, Government Warns

One can only imagine how much more the threat is multiplied because of the “patch and pray” culture America was warned about as early as 1998. Nobody in the industry cares until after the problem happens, then they stick a band-aid on it.

 

Potential to ‘take down’ U.S. power grids, water systems and other critical infrastructure

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While experts have long signaled that the U.S. power grid and related systems are vulnerable to physical attacks by terrorists and other individuals, the U.S. government is now warning that sensitive computer systems that maintain the grid are increasingly being attacked, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report that was not made public until the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) disclosed it this month.

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These types of computer viruses are able to comb internal systems for private information in a clandestine manner; they can also be used to wrest control of certain computers away from their owners.

“In recent years, new threats have materialized as new vulnerabilities have come to light, and a number of major concerns have emerged about the resilience and security of the nation’s electric power system,” the report says. “In particular, the cyber security of the electricity grid has been a focus of recent efforts to protect the integrity of the electric power system.”

The U.S. government thinks China could take down the power grid

Washington (CNN) — China and “probably one or two other” countries have the capacity to shut down the nation’s power grid and other critical infrastructure through a cyber attack, the head of the National Security Agency told a Congressional panel Thursday.

Admiral Michael Rogers, who also serves the dual role as head of U.S. Cyber Command, said the United States has detected malware from China and elsewhere on U.S. computers systems that affect the daily lives of every American.

“It enables you to shut down very segmented, very tailored parts of our infrastructure that forestall the ability to provide that service to us as citizens,” Rogers said in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.

‘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?

Threat to the grid? Details emerge of sniper attack on power station

Newly reported details about a 52-minute sniper attack on a central California electrical substation last year are raising concerns from Capitol Hill and beyond, amid questions over whether it was the work of terrorists.

The April 16, 2013, attack had not been widely publicized until The Wall Street Journal reported new details in a story on Wednesday. The attack reportedly started when at least one person entered an underground vault to cut telephone cables, and attackers fired more than 100 shots into Pacific Gas & Electric’s Metcalf transmission substation, knocking out 17 transformers. Electric officials were able to avert a blackout, but it took 27 days to repair the damage. 

Some US Utilities Say They’re Under Constant Cyber Attack

Several power utilities say they face a barrage of cyber attacks on their critical systems, a report by two Democratic lawmakers found echoing warnings from the Obama administration that foreign hackers were trying to bring down the U.S. power grid.

EMP and the Shield Act

So many years, so many warnings coupled with a growing number of threats — yet, America fails to prepare. This post is not to sound alarmist, but the basics of national security should be covered. Threats from America’s enemies are made on almost a daily basis… and perhaps one day they might follow through.

American and Soviet planners realized that an EMP effect could be used to win a nuclear war. As described by Dr. Pry above, EMP could be used to disrupt or destroy an enemy’s nuclear arsenal. Realizing this potential, the Soviet Union and the United States both developed super-EMP bombs. These weapons produce intense gamma radiation, enhancing the EMP effect so that hardened or protected weapon systems can still be damaged. After successful tests the Russians deployed an unknown number of EMP warheads. On its side, the United States failed to deploy its own version of the super-EMP weapon.

Since proliferation is the word of the day, American experts are now concerned that rogue states have acquired super-EMP technology. In fact, there is evidence that North Korea has developed and deployed its own version of the Russian super-EMP bomb. Russian military officials have privately warned the U.S. government that scientists from the Soviet super-EMP bomb project have been helping the North Koreans. Last Thursday I spoke with Dr. Pry, who said that North Korea may have tested a super-EMP weapon in May 2009. The “signature” of the North Korean test was consistent with a high-gamma output combined with relatively small blast output – of three kilotons.

Pry also described Iranian missile tests which appear to resemble high altitude practice strikes. It is well known that the Iranians and North Koreans have been collaborating. Both regimes consider the United States to be Enemy Number One. The propaganda of both regimes includes the promise that America will be destroyed. How this destruction is accomplished, we are not told. But simple observation of tests and preparations should provide us with a clue.

Even a localized EMP strike could take out the entire U.S. power grid because power stations are all interconnected, and damage would cascade through the system wiping out equipment that could not be replaced for at least 18 months. According to the “Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack,” an EMP attack “can damage or disrupt the infrastructure that supplies food to the population of the United States.” Supermarkets typically carry enough food to supply the local population for three days. Without electricity, Americans will starve. Less than two percent of Americans work on farms, according to the Commission report. “An attack that neutralized farming technology would depress U.S. food production.” The food distribution system is even more vulnerable.

The Commission report concludes: “Absolute deprivation of food, on average, will greatly diminish a person’s capacity for physical work within a few days. After 4 to 5 days without food, the average person will suffer from impaired judgment and have difficulty performing simple intellectual tasks. After 2 weeks without food, the average person will be virtually incapacitated. Death typically results after 1 or 2 months without food.”

In a continent-wide EMP attack, between one third and four-fifths of the population would die. As of today, the United States government has taken no action to prepare for this kind of attack, or harden vital systems essential for saving millions of lives. In 2010 Congress tried to pass the Grid Act (HR 5026). After being passed by the House, the Grid Act died in a Senate committee. Today we have a chance to pass another bill, called the “Secure High-Voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act” (the Shield Act). It acknowledges that American lives will be lost without electricity, so the grid must be protected. The cost of the Shield Act is minimal – pennies per month for the average electric bill. A better investment can hardly be imagined.

Full article: EMP and the Shield Act (JR Nyquist)