There Goes the Power Grid! How Will I Toast my Cheese and Tomato Sandwich Now? By Brian Simpson
It would be the stuff of a “great” adventure movie; a group of terrorists, who by definition must be Nordic blondes, maybe Germans, hack into the US power grid and threaten to bring it down. A group of multicultural heroes assemble, and save the day, after having sex with all the blonde female villains, who then turn “good,” so that obese people can go back to playing video games. Anyone out there interested in a film script for this potential blockbuster?
“Hackers broke into the US electric grid with spearphishing techniques targeting contractors with system access.
The Wall Street Journal has a detailed report out regarding a sophisticated, and successful attack by hackers into the US electric grid. The hackers could have temporarily shut off power.
The Journal claims Russia is responsible. I hate such assumptions. In the absence of hard proof, the hack could have come from China, North Korea, Israel, or even the US. Even if Russian hackers did this, there is a difference between "Russian" and "Russia".
Please consider America’s Electric Grid Has a Vulnerable Back Door—and Russia Walked Through It.
Early victims
In the summer of 2016, U.S. intelligence officials saw signs of a campaign to hack American utilities, says Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity and communications program. The tools and tactics suggested the perpetrators were Russian. Intelligence agencies notified Homeland Security, Ms. Manfra says.
Mr. Vitello of All-Ways Excavating has no idea how the hackers got into his email account. He doesn’t recall reading CFE’s websites or clicking on tainted email attachments. Nonetheless, the intrusion was part of the Russian campaign, according to the security companies that studied the hack.
On March 2, 2017, the attackers used Mr. Vitello’s account to send the mass email to customers, which was intended to herd recipients to a website secretly taken over by the hackers.
Once Mr. Vitello realized his email had been hijacked, he tried to warn his contacts not to open any email attachments from him. The hackers blocked the message.”
I did not see any proof that it was Russia. The hack could have been China of North Korea, or even some bored kid working from mom’s basement, with nothing else to do on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Anyway, this is the shape of things to come, for with cyber-warfare the first things to go will be the power. Lights out! Then crucial systems and infrastructure break down, and after a few days, total chaos. Read about a parallel situation of an EMP strike here, and keep in mind that it could just as easily happen in Australia:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Lights-Out-David-Crawford/dp/0615427359
It won’t be all bad; at least the chattering class will shut up for a while, and if the grid down was long term, it could spell the end of all of this nonsense.
Comments