CIA Claims Cyber Attackers Blacked Out Cities

Dotnaught writes to tell us InformationWeek is reporting that the CIA admitted today that recent power outages in multiple cities outside the United States are the result of cyberattacks. "We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands. We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of these attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge. We have information that cyberattacks have been used to disrupt power equipment in several regions outside the United States. 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."

Comments

Why are systems like this hooked onto the internet

[munrom]

Am I the only one that thinks thats a really stupid thing to do?

Re:Why are systems like this hooked onto the inter

[Tablizer]

Am I the only one that thinks thats a really stupid thing to do?

It takes only a single breach. The story mentioned it may be an inside job, which means somebody may have put a single little link between the two systems, breaking the separation.

Re:15% solution

[QuickFox]

but at least (in theory...) the president can ultimately be held accountable. That's extremely theoretical. In practice, he got reelected.