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Security United States

'Cyber Event' Disrupted US Grid Networks (eenews.net) 55

A "cyber event" interrupted grid operations in parts of the western United States last month, according to a cryptic report posted by the Department of Energy. From a report: The March 5 incident lasted from 9 a.m. until nearly 7 p.m. but didn't lead to a power outage, based on a brief summary of the electric disturbance report filed by the victim utility. If remote hackers interfered with grid networks in California, Utah and Wyoming, as the DOE filing suggests, the event would be unprecedented. A cyberattack is not known to have ever disrupted the flow of electricity anywhere in the United States, though Russian hackers briefly cut off power to parts of Ukraine in 2015 and again in 2016. DOE uses a broad definition of "cyber event," describing it as any disruption to an electrical system or grid communication network "caused by unauthorized access" to hardware, software or data. That leaves open the possibility that a utility employee or trespasser, rather than a remote hacker, triggered the March 5 event.
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'Cyber Event' Disrupted US Grid Networks

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  • by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @12:06PM (#58517096) Journal

    Dear Plant Superviser. I am Vice President of Oprations of the company that owns the power plant you control. Tomorrow we shedule planned downtime from 9 AM for to 7 PM. To test our customers to withstand a significant power outage, to be prepare for natural disasters.
    Please terminate all power from plant tomorrow 09:00 until 7 PM, per my authorized.

    Thanks to you,

    Vice President of Operations,
    Company owning your power plant

    • by hjf ( 703092 )

      nope. There are no articles in russian. You have too many "the".

      • by _merlin ( 160982 )

        It's not supposed to be Russian English - it's a parody of the kind of e-mails you get from IT operations support outsourced to the cheapest vendor in India or Philippines.

  • by remoteshell ( 1299843 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @12:16PM (#58517158)
    Squirrels disrupt the grid quite a bit, as do other non-humans. Rather than spending money on expensive "security consultants", bags of sunflower seeds placed far from pylons would be money well spent. Citation: https://cybersquirrel1.com/ [cybersquirrel1.com]
    • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      It's actually hedgehogs:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

  • We had .... (Score:5, Funny)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @12:27PM (#58517228)

    ... a power outage yesterday. But knowing my utility, odds are that it was just a failed vacuum tube in their computer.

  • Follow the links through the article and see that later in the month physical attacks and/or vandalism were reported in each of those counties.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      There was no physical attack and/or vandalism reported in Converse County, WY.

      Almost certainly just tweaker copper theft attempts, but they have to be reported. The other counties are huge, and almost certainly are totally unrelated events.

  • by Daralantan ( 5305713 ) on Tuesday April 30, 2019 @01:00PM (#58517384)
    An event of cyber? I guess it must've started with a ton of "a/s/l?"
  • If remote hackers interfered with grid networks in California, Utah and Wyoming, as the DOE filing suggests, the event would be unprecedented

    In January 2003, the Slammer worm knocked out the 911 service. In August 2003 there was the great North American Blackout. caused by SCADA systems freezing because of a Windows worm. ref [schneier.com] ref [computerworld.com]

    "Russian hackers briefly cut off power to parts of Ukraine in 2015 and again in 2016."

    No they didn't, local saboteurs blew-up a substation, it's only the US that conne

The computer is to the information industry roughly what the central power station is to the electrical industry. -- Peter Drucker

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