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Argos Media

BBC NEWS | Technology | Spies 'infiltrate US power grid' - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...7990997.stm

US Cyber Attacks China Russia SCADA

shared by Argos Media on 09 Apr 09 - Cached
  • The US government has admitted the nation's power grid is vulnerable to cyber attack, following reports it has been infiltrated by foreign spies.
  • The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) newspaper reported that Chinese and Russian spies were behind this "pervasive" breach. It said software had been left behind that could shut down the electric grid.
  • "There is a pretty strong consensus in the security community that the SCADA equipment, a class of technology that is used to manage critical infrastructure, has not kept pace with the rest of the industry," said Dan Kaminsky, a cyber security analyst and director of penetration testing for IOActive.
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  • The WSJ reported that the intruders had not sought to damage the power grid or any other key infrastructure so far, but suggested they could change their approach in the event of a crisis or war.
  • Security watchers said that, if true, the involvement of the Chinese and Russians in such a scenario would show they were strategically thinking about how either to constrain the US or to inflict more damage if they felt a need to do so.
  • "I think that China recognises if in a very strategic sense you want to ensure you have the ability to exploit another country's potential weakness or vulnerability, but do it in a way that isn't confrontational or cause an international crisis, then this is a very good way of doing that," Eric Rosenbach, of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government's Belfer Center, told Reuters news agency.
  • The motives behind these alleged attacks are undoubtedly military or political in nature, said Tim Mather, chief security strategist for the RSA Conference, the world's biggest security event.
  • In the coming weeks, a government review of cyber security is due to land on the desk of US President Barack Obama.
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