[Original post 4/10/2009] Increasing news reports are indicating that cyber attacks are both increasing and getting increasingly bad. A number of reports highlight an attack on the US power grid; some even indicating that malware has been planted so that foreign powers can wreak havoc on cyber command. China and Russia (among others) have been implicated.
But, no proof has been offered (at least not in any of the reports I’ve seen). It would be nice to have some details instead of the “sky is falling” reports that seem to make today’s headlines for what are called news stories.
Understand, I don’t doubt the grid is vulnerable and that probes have been performed and that the power companies have no clue this has happened until told by others. Malware insertion, however, is another level and major claims require major proof which has not yet been offered.
But, if someone did install malware and the PTB* know about it I certainly hope they’ve taken the next obvious step and removed it; not to mention blocking the hole it crawled in through. We don’t know because that part has not made the news.
China, not surprisingly says: “The incident of attacks on the U.S. electrical grid from China and Russia simply does not exist,” (Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu).
References (among many others):
*PTB = Powers That Be
