Electric Utility Grid Compromised by Malware

[2FA]

13 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

I like how people assume the US has a single grid, or that the grid is US specific

 

Also states have an even more subdivided grid, my state NH could isolate itself from the other NE states if it needed to due to power fluctuations, in otherwords you can't hack the entire US grid, you can however hack numerous grids that reside in or around the US

My state, NY, is the same way. It's fairly independent but is technically connected to the rest of the NE grid.

[Dabombinable]

17 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

I like how people assume the US has a single grid, or that the grid is US specific

Also states have an even more subdivided grid, my state NH could isolate itself from the other NE states if it needed to due to power fluctuations, in otherwords you can't hack the entire US grid, you can however hack numerous grids that reside in or around the US

Its the kind of situation where only simultaneous hacks would work, or 1 person getting in, leaving some self hiding time delayed malware to take all of the grids offline (which is where the US is retarded for outlawing going off the grid).

[SurvivorNVL]

12 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Its the kind of situation where only simultaneous hacks would work, or 1 person getting in, leaving some self hiding time delayed malware to take all of the grids offline (which is where the US is retarded for outlawing going off the grid).

Outlawed, but not difficult to do, and there're some entire towns off the grid running on the Sovereign system.  Granted they're sub 10,000 people.

[ionbasa]

5 hours ago, HughMungusCynicalAnarch said:

And so are mine.

an emp or solar flare would cost trillions and its been estimated 90 percent of the us would die if there was a year without electricity. 

 

And again were due for a large solar flare, it will happen.

90% That's a rather large statistic. Personally, I could live without the grid. I have PV solar panels with a battery backup on my house, and a greywater system for collecting runoff rain and sink water to feed my fruit trees and garden. Coming from a family of farmers and hunters, I think I could manage. 

 

As to EMP being an serious issue, it is. Russia has a nuclear bomb (Satan 2) capable of destroying an entire landmass about the size of Texas. If detonated in the low  earth orbit over a nation, it would most likely be catastrophic, and in that regard, there was some cold war testing done by both sides on nuclear weapons and EMPs, lookup Operation Fishbowl and the Soviet Project K.

.

As to solar flares, we shouldn't be too worried about natural phenomena when the greater threat is from here on earth from EMPs. We  have enough warning time from solar flares to shut down critical infrastructure and prevent damage. Personally (and other may disagree) but we're already in Cold War 2.0  just by looking at how the global powers have been acting lately. I'm not a fan of this sort provocation by nations. But hey, as an Engineer, at least I get job security 

[Trik'Stari]

That source story is so full of holes that it's not even funny.

 

This could be lingering infections from previous attacks years ago, it could be malware that some user got from looking at pornhub at work, it could be a lot of things. It's FAR too early to tell, or even speculate, who did it or why.

 

What does our core of, responsible, professional, "journalists" do? Go ahead and speculate that it was Russia, to fit with the (as of yet unproven) narrative that Russia somehow interfered with our election process.

 

Gotta push that agenda.

[Trik'Stari]

4 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

Its the kind of situation where only simultaneous hacks would work, or 1 person getting in, leaving some self hiding time delayed malware to take all of the grids offline (which is where the US is retarded for outlawing going off the grid).

I've never heard of it being 100% illegal to go off the grid. IIRC you can put up your own solar panels and generate all the power you need, yourself. I know that if you generate enough power, and are connected to the grid, you can actually send power back to the power company and they send you a check instead of a bill.

 

Part of me wants to think that it can't be about ensuring the power company has customers. But knowing the scumbags in charge...... it probably is.

[Dabombinable]

14 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

I've never heard of it being 100% illegal to go off the grid. IIRC you can put up your own solar panels and generate all the power you need, yourself. I know that if you generate enough power, and are connected to the grid, you can actually send power back to the power company and they send you a check instead of a bill.

 

Part of me wants to think that it can't be about ensuring the power company has customers. But knowing the scumbags in charge...... it probably is.

Over here, they tried to tax solar power generated by homes-and there is nothing against off the grid living.

[Trik'Stari]

3 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Over here, they tried to tax solar power generated by homes-and there is nothing against off the grid living.

Who the fuck are these people running this shit show of a world?

 

And why do we keep fucking electing them?

[Dabombinable]

2 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Who the fuck are these people running this shit show of a world?

 

And why do we keep fucking electing them?

They all make promises, then break them as soon as they get elected (Australia has a long history of that).

[Trik'Stari]

Just now, Dabombinable said:

They all make promises, then break them as soon as they get elected (Australia has a long history of that).

I swear, every "democracy" out there needs to implement quarterly confidence votes for no confidence. The elected official being ousted immediately if less than 50% of the people who vote in them, vote "confident" in that officials actions.

[Trik'Stari]

Oh look.

 

http://nypost.com/2017/01/01/washington-post-retracts-story-about-russian-hack-at-vermont-utility/

 

Quote

The Washington Post has retracted its story about Russian hackers penetrating the nation’s electricity grid with a virus found in a Burlington, Vt., electric company laptop.

 

“Authorities say there is no indication of that so far [that Russians had penetrated the US electric grid],” according to an editor’s note attached to a corrected version of the story on the paper’s Web site.

 

“The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid,” the editor’s note read.

It's almost as if the media just makes shit up and hopes reality distorts to match their narrative. Or they just lie for 2 weeks (which is apparently the attention span of the American public) until no one is paying attention, and then correct their story.

[ionbasa]

2 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Oh look.

 

http://nypost.com/2017/01/01/washington-post-retracts-story-about-russian-hack-at-vermont-utility/

 

It's almost as if the media just makes shit up and hopes reality distorts to match their narrative. Or they just lie for 2 weeks (which is apparently the attention span of the American public) until no one is paying attention, and then correct their story.

Interesting. Updated OP.

[Delicieuxz]

I think this is Washington Post walking even further back from its initial report:

 

Russian government hackers do not appear to have targeted Vermont utility, say people close to investigation

 

As federal officials investigate suspicious Internet activity found last week on a Vermont utility computer, they are finding evidence that the incident is not linked to any Russian government effort to target or hack the utility, according to experts and officials close to the investigation.