Hacking the Smart Grid

[Indiana Oracle]

I am all for electric cars but am also all for nuclear to generate the majority of our utility power, accompanied by recycling spent fuel . Natural gas will help, wind should work in some areas and there is Ethanol, etc. But all of these, apart from US natural gas, will not make much of a dent in offsetting our consumption of fossil fuels. There is a huge amount of disinformation in the public domain on the topic of renewable energy as there is with global warming.

Do we need to do something about our heavy dependence on foreign fossil fuels, despite their extremely high efficiency? Without doubt.

But have you heard any serious discussion or promotion of nuclear from The Prophet's administration? Perhaps you believe you have. What I believe we have heard so far is mostly propaganda, populist button-pushing, and ideas that are easy for The Prophet to read to us off his teleprompter. The one below is of the third kind.

The Prophet's "stimulus plan" (spend-indebt-tax (us), to install what he and his minions have decided is good for us) includes reengineering America's electronic infrastruture into what is called, a "smart grid". Basically nationwide computer-controlled power management. This, of course, would include companion computers in your home which can be centrally controlled. Sound like something you have heard of before?

Anyway, Josh Pennell, president and CEO of IOActive, a technology research firm in Seattle, testified before the Dept of Homeland Security last week. "With a smart grid, anybody with an eBay account and $80 can go and buy a smart meter, reverse-engineer it, and figure out how to attack the grid".

I doubt this cautionary warning will be taken seriously by or stop The Prophet's crowd. His view, I am certain, will be that "science" will take care of these issues.

We shall see.

 

[HUGGY]

I am all for electric cars but am also all for nuclear to generate the majority of our utility power, accompanied by recycling spent fuel . Natural gas will help, wind should work in some areas and there is Ethanol, etc. But all of these, apart from US natural gas, will not make much of a dent in offsetting our consumption of fossil fuels. There is a huge amount of disinformation in the public domain on the topic of renewable energy as there is with global warming.

Do we need to do something about our heavy dependence on foreign fossil fuels, despite their extremely high efficiency? Without doubt.

But have you heard any serious discussion or promotion of nuclear from The Prophet's administration? Perhaps you believe you have. What I believe we have heard so far is mostly propaganda, populist button-pushing, and ideas that are easy for The Prophet to read to us off his teleprompter. The one below is of the third kind.

The Prophet's "stimulus plan" (spend-indebt-tax (us), to install what he and his minions have decided is good for us) includes reengineering America's electronic infrastruture into what is called, a "smart grid". Basically nationwide computer-controlled power management. This, of course, would include companion computers in your home which can be centrally controlled. Sound like something you have heard of before?

Anyway, Josh Pennell, president and CEO of IOActive, a technology research firm in Seattle, testified before the Dept of Homeland Security last week. "With a smart grid, anybody with an eBay account and $80 can go and buy a smart meter, reverse-engineer it, and figure out how to attack the grid".

I doubt this cautionary warning will be taken seriously by or stop The Prophet's crowd. His view, I am certain, will be that "science" will take care of these issues.

We shall see.

If you are one of those end of days apokylips gods gonna suck you out of your shoes when christ comes back and gives you the thumbs up kinda people then thanks but no thanks on you input for the future.

 

[Indiana Oracle]

Nope. But, we shall see.

 

[thinking]

Yeah, the smart grid idea seems quite fallible. I don’t think we will be able to switch to renewable energy sources until it is economically beneficial to. I believe the government should start making it economically beneficial with tax breaks, grants, and other motivators.

 

[foggedinn]

Much of the smart grid already exists.

Utility companies have been monitoring and electronically switching to the most efficient use of the grid for decades. They have too. The actual physical infastructure is so sadly lacking that utilities have no recourse except to make the most efficient use of it. If they hadn't, blackouts and brownouts would be much more common than they are.

The current grid just isn't capable of handling peak summer loads. We need more than a smart grid. We need the actual physical infastructure. Doing more with less only works to a point, and we are well past that point.

 

[waltky]

Obama gonna tell dat Chinaman to tell his hacker to knock it off onna hackin'...

Hacking Overshadows Obama's Push for Closer US-China Ties
May 29, 2013 — U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon has pushed for stronger military relations with China as part of preparations for a summit next month between President Barack Obama and China's Xi Jinping.

However, difficulties establishing trust between the sides were underscored by new revelations Tuesday that China used cyberattacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs and almost 30 other defense technologies, ranging from missile defense systems to the F-35 joint strike fighter. The disclosure was included in a Defense Science Board report released earlier this year, but is only now being discussed publicly. It came shortly after Donilon wrapped up discussions with Chinese officials in Beijing and as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was heading to Southeast Asia for multinational talks on issues including the escalating cyberthreat.

While officials have been warning for years about China's cyber espionage efforts aimed at U.S. military and high-tech programs, the breadth of the list underscored how routine the attacks have become. Donilon did not directly mention hacking in his opening comments at a meeting Tuesday morning with Gen. Fan Changlong, a vice chairman of the commission overseeing China's armed forces. Instead, he emphasized that nontraditional military activities such as peacekeeping, disaster relief and anti-piracy operations offer opportunities to boost cooperation and "contribute to greater mutual confidence and understanding."

A "healthy, stable, and reliable military-to-military relationship" is an essential part of overall China-U.S. ties, Donilon said at the start of the meeting at China's hulking Defense Ministry building in central Beijing. Donilon met with a range of Chinese officials over two days to hammer out plans for the June 7-8 summit, the first face-to-face meeting between the presidents since Obama's re-election and Xi's promotion to Communist Party chief last November. Their informal summit at the private Sunnylands estate of the late publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg in southern California will come months before the two leaders had been originally scheduled to meet, underscoring concerns that the U.S-China relationship was drifting.

MORE

 

[waltky]

U.S. research universities gettin' hit by cyberattacks...

Universities struggle to respond to barrage of cyberattacks
Sat, Jul 20, 2013 - Universities promote an open culture where information is pooled and shared as much as possible, as opposed to restricted sharing in the corporate world, but this openness means schools are at greater risk from cyberattacks

US research universities, among the most open and robust centers of information exchange in the world, are increasingly coming under cyberattack, most of it thought to be from China, with millions of hacking attempts weekly. Campuses are being forced to tighten security, constrict their culture of openness, and try to determine what has been stolen. University officials concede that some of the hacking attempts have succeeded.

They have declined to reveal specifics, other than those involving the theft of personal data like Social Security numbers. They acknowledge that they often do not learn of break-ins until much later, if ever, and that even after discovering the breaches they may not be able to tell what was taken. “The attacks are increasing exponentially, and so is the sophistication, and I think it’s outpaced our ability to respond,” Educause cybersecurity program head Rodney Petersen said. Educause is a nonprofit alliance of schools and technology companies. “So everyone’s investing a lot more resources in detecting this, so we learn of even more incidents we wouldn’t have known about before,” he said. Detection was “probably our greatest area of concern, that the hackers’ ability to detect vulnerabilities and penetrate them without being detected has increased sharply,” said Tracy Mitrano, the director of information technology policy at Cornell University.

Like many of her counterparts, she said that while the largest number of attacks appeared to have originated in China, hackers have become adept at bouncing their work around the world. Analysts can track where communications come from — a region, a service provider, sometimes even a user’s specific Internet address. However, hackers often route their penetration attempts through multiple computers, even multiple countries, and the targeted organizations rarely go to the effort and expense — often fruitless — of trying to trace the origins. US government officials, security experts, and university and corporate officials nonetheless say that China is clearly the leading source of efforts to steal information, but attributing individual attacks to specific people, groups or places is rare.

The increased threat of hacking has forced many universities to rethink the basic structure of their computer networks and their open style, though officials say they are resisting the temptation to create a fortress with high digital walls. “A university environment is very different from a corporation or a government agency, because of the kind of openness and free flow of information you’re trying to promote,” Purdue University chief information security officer David Shaw said. “The researchers want to collaborate with others, inside and outside the university, and to share their discoveries.” “Some universities no longer allow their professors to take laptops to certain countries, and that should be a standard practice,” said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy group in Washington. “There are some countries, including China, where the minute you connect to a network, everything will be copied, or something will be planted on your computer in hopes that you’ll take that computer back home and connect to your home network, and then they’re in there. Academics aren’t used to thinking that way.”

MORE

 

[flacaltenn]

"Smart Grid" has become a completely nebulous term. Used to describe ACTUAL grid control operations AND customer monitoring..

I'm all in on updating engineering for better grid distribution and generator control.. I'm against the concept of including the capability to micromanage every USER of the grid. It's just an excuse to monetize "time of day" pricing and charging consumers for esoteric stuff like "power factor"..

As foggedin states -- it is also an excuse to MAINTAIN inadequate peak load management and dance closer to the margins of brown-outs.

The OP brings up the security concerns for USER side controls. This is something folks should take into account. Putting each user in contact with grid management is a definate threat I haven't considered. I hope THEY (whoever they are) have thought about it..

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dey could blow up the world...

UN: Threat of a hacking attack on nuclear plants is growing
Dec 15,`16 -- The "nightmare scenario" is rising for a hacking attack on a nuclear power plant's computer system that causes the uncontrolled release of radiation, the United Nations' deputy chief warned Thursday.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a Security Council meeting that extremists and "vicious non-state groups" are actively seeking weapons of mass destruction "and these weapons are increasingly accessible." Non-state actors can already create mass disruption using cyber technologies - and hacking a nuclear plant would be a "nightmare scenario," he said. The open council meeting focused on ways to stop the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons by extremist groups and criminals. Members unanimously approved a resolution to strengthen the work of the council committee monitoring what countries are doing to prevent "non-state actors" from acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction, known as WMDs.

Eliasson said there are legitimate concerns about the security of stockpiles of radioactive material suitable for making nuclear weapons but that are outside international regulation. In addition, he said, "scientific advances have lowered barriers to the production of biological weapons." "And emerging technologies, such as 3D printing and unmanned aerial vehicles, are adding to threats of an attack using a WMD," Eliasson said. He said the international community needs robust defenses to stay ahead of this technological curve. "Preventing a WMD attack by a non-state actor will be a long-term challenge that requires long-term responses," Eliasson said.

U.N. disarmament chief Kim Won-soo said the new resolution recognizes "the growing threats and risks associated with biological weapons" and the need for the 193 U.N. member states, international groups and regional organizations to step-up information sharing on these threats and risks. Kim said it is important that the Security Council keep up its focus on preventing deadly weapons from getting into the hands of extremists and criminals, but it also needs to study how to respond if prevention fails. "The consequences of an attack would be disastrous and we must be prepared," he said.

News from The Associated Press