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For many years, this was Hollywood’s wet dream. Ever since the movie War Games, evil, yet benevolent teenage hackers have been portrayed as ultra powerful in the cyberspace world. It was the ultimate revenge of the nerds. They didn’t get the girls in high school, but could penetrate the Pentagon, and order a missile strike on any “jocks” house. This is all fine and dandy when it’s Matthew Broderick, but when it’s some angry Chinese cyberspace spy, its a troubling concept.

It’s no longer Hollywood, and I would suspect that this is not the first time this kind of attempt has been detected, and I am mostly surprised that it was made public. The normal trend for this sort of thing, is to keep it hush-hush, and deal with the problem. Every day, thousands of companies are infiltrated, ripped off, blackmailed, and generally screwed with, online. For PR reasons, and instability to the shareholders, its cheaper to just pay the blackmail, or write off the losses. I think this recent wave of public exposure to cyber-spying stories, emanating from the government is preparing us for the next step. The next step is a big red button on the President’s desk, and in his attache case, that doesn’t launch nuclear weapons, but rather, turns off the Internet in times of “emergency.” The real problem, is WHO decides what constitutes an Internet emergency?

1591411087_97e5587c18openquoteWASHINGTON — Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven’t sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

“The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid,” said a senior intelligence official. “So have the Russians.”

The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn’t target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. “There are intrusions, and they are growing,” the former official said, referring to electrical systems. “There were a lot last year.”

Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.

Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, “If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on.”  Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

“Over the past several years, we have seen cyberattacks against critical infrastructures abroad, and many of our own infrastructures are as vulnerable as their foreign counterparts,” Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair recently told lawmakers. “A number of nations, including Russia and China, can disrupt elements of the U.S. information infrastructure.”

Officials cautioned that the motivation of the cyberspies wasn’t well understood, and they don’t see an immediate danger. China, for example, has little incentive to disrupt the U.S. economy because it relies on American consumers and holds U.S. government debt.closequote

Read the rest of the story @ Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies – WSJ.com.

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April 9th, 2009 | Tags: , , | Category: Government

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