[SBE] We've told them for decades the grid is an easy target:

[A9xw at cs.com]

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."
Question of the Day


<A HREF="http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php?t=5653">Vote: How worried are you that a cyberattack could damage U.S. 
infrastructure?</A><A HREF="javascript:window.open('http://forums.wsj.com/votenview.php%3Ft=5653%26topic_id=3%26mode=vote%26vote_id=1','','toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,location=no,width=750,height=550,left=100,top=100');%20;void('')">Very</A> | <A HREF="javascript:window.open('http://forums.wsj.com/votenview.php%3Ft=5653%26topic_id=3%26mode=vote%26vote_id=2','','toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,location=no,width=750,height=550,left=100,top=100');%20;void('')">Somewhat</A> | <A HREF="javascript:window.open('http://forums.wsj.com/votenview.php%3Ft=5653%26topic_id=3%26mode=vote%26vote_id=3','','toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,location=no,width=750,height=550,left=100,top=100');%20;void('')">Not at all worried</A>

<A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/community/groups/tech-talk-270/topics/how-worried-you-cyberattack-could">Join the discussion.</A>More


<A HREF="http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/04/08/grid-lock-will-a-smart-grid-repel-or-open-doors-to-a-cyber-attack/">Environment: Will a Smart Grid Repel Attacks?</A>

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.
"Over the past several years, we have seen cyberattacks against critical 
infrastructures abroad, and many of our own infrastructures are as vulnerable 
as their foreign counterparts," Director of National Intelligence Dennis 
Blair recently told lawmakers. "A number of nations, including Russia and 
China, can disrupt elements of the U.S. information infrastructure."
Officials cautioned that the motivation of the cyberspies wasn't well 
understood, and they don't see an immediate danger. China, for example, has 
little incentive to disrupt the U.S. economy because it relies on American 
consumers and holds U.S. government debt.
But protecting the electrical grid and other infrastructure is a key part 
of the Obama administration's cybersecurity review, which is to be completed 
next week. Under the Bush administration, Congress approved $17 billion in 
secret funds to protect government networks, according to people familiar 
with the budget. The Obama administration is weighing whether to expand the 
program to address vulnerabilities in private computer networks, which would 
cost billions of dollars more. A senior Pentagon official said Tuesday the 
Pentagon has spent $100 million in the past six months repairing cyber damage.
Overseas examples show the potential havoc. In 2000, a disgruntled employee 
rigged a computerized control system at a water-treatment plant in 
Australia, releasing more than 200,000 gallons of sewage into parks, rivers and the 
grounds of a Hyatt hotel.
Last year, a senior Central Intelligence Agency official, Tom Donahue, told 
a meeting of utility company representatives in New Orleans that a 
cyberattack had taken out power equipment in multiple regions outside the U.S. The 
outage was followed with extortion demands, he said.
The U.S. electrical grid comprises three separate electric networks, 
covering the East, the West and Texas. Each includes many thousands of miles of 
transmission lines, power plants and substations. The flow of power is 
controlled by local utilities or regional transmission organizations. The growing 
reliance of utilities on Internet-based communication has increased the 
vulnerability of control systems to spies and hackers, according to government 
reports.
 


The sophistication of the U.S. intrusions -- which extend beyond electric 
to other key infrastructure systems -- suggests that China and Russia are 
mainly responsible, according to intelligence officials and cybersecurity 
specialists. While terrorist groups could develop the ability to penetrate U.S. 
infrastructure, they don't appear to have yet mounted attacks, these 
officials say.
It is nearly impossible to know whether or not an attack is 
government-sponsored because of the difficulty in tracking true identities in cyberspace. 
U.S. officials said investigators have followed electronic trails of stolen 
data to China and Russia.
Russian and Chinese officials have denied any wrongdoing. "These are pure 
speculations," said Yevgeniy Khorishko, a spokesman at the Russian Embassy. 
"Russia has nothing to do with the cyberattacks on the U.S. infrastructure, 
or on any infrastructure in any other country in the world."
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Wang Baodong, said the 
Chinese government "resolutely oppose[s] any crime, including hacking, that 
destroys the Internet or computer network" and has laws barring the practice. 
China was ready to cooperate with other countries to counter such attacks, 
he said, and added that "some people overseas with Cold War mentality are 
indulged in fabricating the sheer lies of the so-called cyberspies in China."
Utilities are reluctant to speak about the dangers. "Much of what we've 
done, we can't talk about," said Ray Dotter, a spokesman at PJM Interconnection 
LLC, which coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in 13 states 
and the District of Columbia. He said the organization has beefed up its 
security, in conformance with federal standards.
In January 2008, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved new 
protection measures that required improvements in the security of computer 
servers and better plans for handling attacks.
Last week, Senate Democrats introduced a proposal that would require all 
critical infrastructure companies to meet new cybersecurity standards and 
grant the president emergency powers over control of the grid systems and other 
infrastructure.
Specialists at the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, a nonprofit research 
institute, said attack programs search for openings in a network, much as a thief 
tests locks on doors. Once inside, these programs and their human 
controllers can acquire the same access and powers as a systems administrator.
NERC Letter

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation on Tuesday warned its 
members that not all of them appear to be adhering to cybersecuirty 
requirements. <A HREF="http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/CIP-002-Identification-Letter-040609.pdf">Read the letter</A>.





The White House review of cybersecurity programs is studying ways to shield 
the electrical grid from such attacks, said James Lewis, who directed a 
study for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and has met with 
White House reviewers.

The reliability of the grid is ultimately the responsibility of the North 
American Electric Reliability Corp., an independent standards-setting 
organization overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The NERC set standards last year requiring companies to designate "critical 
cyber assets." Companies, for example, must check the backgrounds of 
employees and install firewalls to separate administrative networks from those 
that control electricity flow. The group will begin auditing compliance in July.

—Rebecca Smith contributed to this article.












-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/sbe/attachments/20090408/76ebff7a/attachment-0001.html>