Investigation reveals U.S. power grid vulnerable to cyber attacks
An Associated Press (AP) investigation recently revealed that the United States may not be fully prepared to deal with complex cyber attacks targeting the power the grid.
According to the AP report, “sophisticated foreign hackers” have gained significant access into the U.S. power grid about a dozen times in the last decade.
While the public frequently hears about data breaches that deal with financial and/or personal information, these types of breaches into critical infrastructure are not typically broadcast to the public in the same manner. The lack of transparency can come as a result of classified investigations or even a lack of reporting from hacking victims.
The U.S. is not prepared to defend power grid from cyber attacks https://t.co/bomeZ2GZiv pic.twitter.com/Cn1bLMbmfy
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) December 22, 2015
Recent power grid hacks
Just this month, it was first reported that Iranian hackers infiltrated the computer system at a small dam near New York City in 2013 — but that event is not all that uncommon.
In 2014, U.S. Homeland Security said that Russian hackers infiltrated U.S. energy infrastructure with a a variant of “BlackEnergy” malware.
And just in the past month, the first known cyber attack to cause widespread public blackouts occurred in Ukraine. The Ukraine blackouts occurred on December 23, 2015, and experts now believe that Russia may be responsible for the attack.
Power grid defense
The full extent of attacks on the U.S. grid is not public knowledge, the AP noted. Regardless, cyber security experts say there are gaps and deficiencies in computer systems that need to be addressed to help avoid future power grid attacks.
Source → Associated Press (AP)
