Cyberattacks Make Smart Grids Look Pretty Dumb

From the article:

"It’s a scenario that’s looking increasingly plausible. Argentina isn’t ruling out a cyberattack as the possible cause for the mass outage that affected millions of people in five South American countries over the weekend. Even if that incident turns out to have a more innocent explanation, the U.S. government is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s power grid, the New York Times reported Saturday, citing unnamed officials. "

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cyberattacks-smart-grids-look-pretty-082619950.html

 

Argentina and Uruguay reel after massive power outage

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48652686

U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia’s Power Grid

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-escalates-online-attacks-on-russias-power-grid/ar-AACV9BZ

 

So if the U.S. is cyber attacking Russia's electric grid wouldn't it be reasonable to suspect they they will retaliate in kind on the U.S.?

 

Would it be possible for someone to do repeated cyberattacks on the power grid in order to keep the grid down for months or years ?

 

I don't see why not. If they can write a code to make thousands of computers zombies and use them to attack a web site why wouldn't they be able to do the same to a grid computer that had Internet access?

If Moussad can write a code that would ride on a thumb drive and wait until it is plugged in to an Iranian computer and make all of their centrifuges spin out of control and destroy themselves is anything safe whether connected to the Internet or not?

 

Sounds like a cyber attack on the power grid would allow any country that can hire a computer whiz to attack another country . Other than destroying computer chips in autos and electronics would be as effective as a E.M.P. .

 

Would it be possible for a sponsoring country of a cyber attack be able to remain anonymous by say having their hired computer whiz to conduct operation siting on a boat in the middle of the pacific ocean ?

 

Look up Kevin Mitnik. They tried to catch him for many years and when they tracked him they thought he was in Europe but he was often sitting in Kinkos using a rented computer. A good hacker can make himself look like he is in different places. I believe Mitnik hacked into Bell Telephones and set up thousands of usable phone numbers and was able to switch numbers every few minutes that he routed his hacks through thereby throwing off any traces.

 

This is really, really scares me, as does this Iran mess, and now China leader this week is going to N.Korea. WOW!!!! I need to find a hidy hole to get in...anyone here got one with room for rent...I am ok with dirt.

 

Anything hooked up to the web is subject to cyber attack even cars.

 

If you find something, let me know. I may need to hide there too lol

 

This underscores the need to have a rural retreat . Prepping for a few weeks of inconvenience may not cut it .

 

In the news:

"Florida City Pays $462,000 In Ransom After Second Cyberattack Cripples City's Infrastructure"

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019...nsom-hackers-after-cyberattack-cripples-citys

I'm not so sure that all of these hacking stories are true. However, many ARE true and so I see this as being a real issue and a troubling one for those hundreds of millions of people totally unprepared. The attacks have recently read about are relatively small -- with the exception of Argentina -- however, the infrastructure of the USA is in trouble. Electronics is but one Achilles Heel. And America is not alone among the world's nations in not taking care of core dependencies.

In this issue, along with an unimaginably tall stack of other accidents-waiting-to-happen, we witness the stupid human tendency to gamble on narrow support structures to take care of those things absolutely required. There's the old colloquialism, "Betting the farm, on ...". My dad was a gambler and ran a gambling operation. The reality of "how things go" was burned into me even as a little kid. I don't gamble.