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TVA Security Lapses Could Endanger US Health, Economy

Posted by timothy on from the tva-flooded-my-grandmother's-birthplace dept.

coondoggie links to a Network World story about myriad security flaws (described in a report from the Governmental Accountability Office) at all levels of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the country's largest public power utility, excerpting: "The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federal corporation that generates power using 52 fossil, hydro and nuclear facilities in an area of about 80,000 square miles and has not fully implemented appropriate security practices to protect the control systems used to operate its critical infrastructures, the GAO concluded. TVA's corporate network infrastructure and its control systems networks and devices at individual facilities and plants reviewed were vulnerable to disruptions that could endanger a good portion of the country's economic security and public health and safety, the GAO said." The TVA is hardly alone, though, when it comes to governmental computer security. Reader bc90021 points out the Federal Government's newly released Computer Security Report Card (prepared for Congressman Tom Davis), which "breaks down the agencies and assigns them all a grade. There are plenty of Fs, not the least of which is for the newly reconnected Department of the Interior."

3 of 46 comments (clear)

  1. SCADA Security Sucks by adavies42 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wrote my master's thesis on SCADA (power system control) network security, and while I'm not surprised TVA is insecure, I never got the impression anyone else was any better.

    --
    Media that can be recorded and distributed can be recorded and distributed.
    -kfg
  2. Re:Um - why? by Sta7ic · · Score: 2, Informative

    Frequently the measurements from the control centers gets shipped to other locations. Holes get punched in firewalls to distribute this data, and it's safe to say that there are IT workers out there who don't know enough about properly securing networks.

    In other cases, the particular control system could just be a digital switch for a breaker for line X. Sure, it's no more complicated than a big switch, but those 245kV lines tend to be pretty inconvenient to trip.

  3. Re:80,000 square miles? by Ana10g · · Score: 2, Informative

    All we need to do is clear off every structure in those 8,500 square miles, and we're golden!

    I don't think that TVA's facilities actually occupy 80,000 square miles (that would be ridiculous). I believe their service area is 80,000 square miles. http://www.tva.gov/sites/sites_ie2.htm

    --
    just an analog boy living in a digital age.