Slashdot Mirror
GE Fixing Bug in Software After Warning About Power Grid Hacks (reuters.com)
General Electric said on Wednesday it is fixing a bug in software used to control the flow of electricity in a utility's power systems after researchers found that hackers could shut down parts of an electric grid. From a report: The vulnerability could enable attackers to gain remote control of GE protection relays, enabling them to "disconnect sectors of the power grid at will," according to an abstract posted late last week on the Black Hat security conference website. Protection relays are circuit breakers that utilities program to open and halt power transmission when dangerous conditions surface.
If air gaps are not possible, then at least change which port Telnet is running on.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
That simply isn't ideal anymore. When a critical situation happens, say an earthquake, how long does it take to deploy a person to a breaker unit to manually change its state? They NEED to be networked in today's age to have the level of agility needed to handle a situation.