Cyber Spies Infiltrate US Power Grid

Now this is some scary stuff. I would hate to think of the damage that could be done to us if our power grids and water supply were hacked. We have gotten so dependent on computers that you couldn't even go to wally world and buy anything if the computers were down.


April 09, 2009
Deutsche Presse-Agentur

NEW YORK -- Cyber spies from China, Russia and elsewhere have infiltrated the U.S. electrical grid and other key infrastructures and have the ability to disrupt them during a crisis or war.

Quoting current and former national-security officials, a Wall Street Journal report Wednesday said that the intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure yet, but had laid the groundwork to do so in the future.

The cyber-invasion appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn't target a particular company or region, the report said. Apart from the country's massive electrical grid, the intrusions target other key infrastructures like water, sewage and financial networks.

The report highlighted the vulnerabilities facing technologically advanced countries that are increasingly networking their most basic service industries. While this offers massive advantages in efficiency and flexibility, it also makes them more vulnerable to catastrophic failure when attackers are able to overcome security measures and gain control of crucial parts of the system.

The report came out just prior to the completion of a far-reaching cyber-security review ordered by President Barack Obama. His administration is weighing whether to expand the pre-existing $17 billion program to protect government networks to also address vulnerabilities in key private computer networks.

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