A new measure aims to protect the networks that control electric power distribution throughout North America. But not everyone is juiced over plans to hold utilities accountable to tight security practices. The organization responsible for keeping electricity flowing throughout the United States and Canada took its first serious step this week to shoring up cybersecurity on the Byzantine computer networks that control electric power distribution. That portions of the power grid are vulnerable to hack attack has been known since at least 1997, when a six month vulnerability assessment by the White House’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee found basic security flaws in the computerized systems that control generators, switching stations and electrical substations. Among other things, the committee reported that operational networks controlling critical portions of the grid were accessible through electric companies’ corporate LANs; some digital circuit breakers could be remotely tripped by anyone with the right phone number; and fixed passwords for remote vendor access went unchanged for years. Full Story
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