- Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems
via the Internet and cut power to several cities, a U.S. Central Intelligence
Agency analyst said this week.
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- Speaking at a conference of security professionals on
Wednesday, CIA analyst Tom Donahue disclosed the recently declassified
attacks while offering few specifics on what actually went wrong.
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- Criminals have launched online attacks that disrupted
power equipment in several regions outside of the U.S., he said, without
identifying the countries affected. The goal of the attacks was extortion,
he said.
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- "We have information, from multiple regions outside
the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion
demands," he said in a statement posted to the Web on Friday by the
conference's organizers, the SANS Institute. "In at least one case,
the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not
know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through
the Internet."
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- "According to Mr. Donahue, the CIA actively and
thoroughly considered the benefits and risks of making this information
public, and came down on the side of disclosure," SANS said in the
statement.
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- One conference attendee said the disclosure came as news
to many of the government and industry security professionals in attendance.
"It appeared that there were a lot of people who didn't know this
already," said the attendee, who asked not to be identified because
he is not authorized to speak with the press.
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- He confirmed SANS' report of the talk. "There were
apparently a couple of incidents where extortionists cut off power to several
cities using some sort of attack on the power grid, and it does not appear
to be a physical attack," he said.
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- Hacking the power grid made front-page headlines in September
when CNN aired a video showing an Idaho National Laboratory demonstration
of a software attack on the computer system used to control a power generator.
In the demonstration, the smoking generator was rendered inoperable.
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- The U.S. is taking steps to lock down the computers that
manage its power systems, however.
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- On Thursday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) approved new mandatory standards designed to improve cybersecurity.
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- CIA representatives could not be reached immediately
for comment.
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- http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/141564;_ylt=Atnz.p01pKVcdVBi0RjxJyes0NUE
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