- CLEVELAND (AP) -- A virus
infected FirstEnergy Corp.'s computers in late January and disabled a data
system at its shuttered Davis-Besse nuclear plant, the company said Wednesday.
-
- The "Slammer" worm was first discovered in
the company's main computer system and then at the plant along Lake Erie,
Davis-Besse spokesman Richard Wilkins said. The virus knocked out other
programs, but Wilkins said he did not know which ones.
-
- The virus did not pose a threat to the plant because
it infected a computer that only monitors and collects data on operations
and safety, Wilkins said. He said it does not control the plant's operations.
-
- FirstEnergy, based in Akron, is at the center of investigations
into last week's massive blackout in the Northeast.
-
- Among other things, investigators were checking into
FirstEnergy's alarm system, part of which was broken when transmission
lines were tripping.
-
- Wilkins said the alarm problem was not likely connected
to the Slammer virus because the virus "was taken care of a long time
ago."
-
- FirstEnergy spokeswoman Ellen Raines refused further
comment on whether a different virus, including the "LovSan"
worm that had circulated worldwide early last week, might have disrupted
the alarm.
-
- "I had not heard that as a theory, but we're still
looking into why," she said.
-
- The nuclear plant has been shut since February 2002 after
workers found that boric acid ate a hole in the 6-inch-thick steel cap
covering the plant's reactor vessel. FirstEnergy is hoping to restart the
plant within three months.
-
- The computer worm infected the nuclear plant's computer
for a few hours before it was detected and taken offline for repair, Wilkins
said.
-
- "Normally that computer system is isolated from
the Internet," he said. "However, it was linked to an off-site
vendor and a virus got in."
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- http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/6577299.htm
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