Cyberspies hack U.S electrical grid o_O

[Sil3nt]

Here's the article WASHINGTON — Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials. The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war. "The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," said a senior intelligence official. "So have the Russians." The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn't target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official said, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year." Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet. Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, "If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on." Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,513121,00.html I think it's pretty amazing that they can figure out how to hack something as complex as this sounds like something from a movie...

[Psylocibin]

Power goes bye bye. Hahahaha. Source is Fox News. Which is really just a slightly more sophisticated version of yelling "BOO!"

[Black_Eagle]

I don't understand. Why are computers to the electrical grid hooked up to the internet?

[Ynot]

Whose bright idea was it to put the control systems for an entire country's core infrastructure on the public internet? Christ almighty

[Odd_Nonposter]

Power goes bye bye. Hahahaha. Source is Fox News. Which is really just a slightly more sophisticated version of yelling "BOO!" ^This. I don't even trust Fox News to tell me the weather.

[arby]

Whose bright idea was it to put the control systems for an entire country's core infrastructure on the public internet? Christ almighty But what else are the electrical engineers going to do when they get bored? ;_; Internet is required!

[Keresztanya]

How would you connect the grid to itself if it wasn't on the internet? They don't just use a magical type of unhackable connection to communicate with eachother. It's not public internet or anything, but it can still be hacked.

[DuB]

How would you connect the grid to itself if it wasn't on the internet? They don't just use a magical type of unhackable connection to communicate with eachother. It's not public internet or anything, but it can still be hacked. Right... because everyone knows that there was no such thing as electricity until computer networks came along.

[Mysteryhunter]

Fox news? lol Well its nice to see that the Department of Homeland Security is functioning on some positive level. But really, forget about China, & Russia, its those Canadians to really look out for: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090407/...s/stolen_plane

[Psylocibin]

Right... because everyone knows that there was no such thing as electricity until computer networks came along. Everyone might also know that now it's controlled by computers. In a network. Networks can always be hacked. You might not be able to get to it over the internet, but a powerplant has an intranet, and all you'll need is someone who works there who's not too smart. Also, they might have internet for the employees, but with a firewall in between the internet and the intranet. In that case you could open it up from the inside and allow incoming connections from China. For example. I'm not a spy I swear.

[Sandform]

Do nvm, last post mentioned intranet.