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Jim: jdipeso@rep.org
(253) 740-2066 / 2010
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Smart Grid vs. Script-Kiddies
February 12, 2010
Ever heard of "script-kiddies?" In the
world of computers, "script-kiddies" is a slang, derogatory term for
inexperienced hackers who make use of software programs that others
have written in order to initiate a cyber attack.
Much of the
power delivery infrastructure upon which we rely to keep the lights on
relies on technology that dates to the era when computers were rare,
room-sized, and attended by guys in white lab coats.
Upgrading
power delivery with today’s information technology – wireless
communications, remote sensors, and the like - would, if all goes well,
make electric grid systems more efficient, more capable of delivering
useful cost and usage information directly to consumers, and less prone
to cascading failures that lead to debilitating blackouts.
Smartening
up the grid also would enable grid operators to better integrate
renewable resources – wind and solar, for example – that generate
electricity intermittently.
On the down side, however, the fancy
IT upgrades would, cyber security experts fear, leave the power
delivery system open to sabotage.
A pressure point on the
electric power system is that supply and demand must be balanced
instantaneously and at all times. Otherwise, the system becomes
unstable and vulnerable to blackouts.
Last July, at a House
subcommittee hearing, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s
electric reliability director said cyber attackers could take control
of grid IT to "order metering devices to disconnect customers, order
previously shed load to come back on line prematurely, or order
dispersed generation sources to turn off during periods when load is
approaching generation capacity, causing instability and outages on the
bulk power system."
In other words, order the system to cause
blackouts. Hackers looking for kicks, or someone or some country with a
beef and possessing the right skill set could initiate a damaging cyber
attack endangering public health and safety. Rogue regimes, disgruntled
employees, and even script-kiddies could be potential threats, a recent
report from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
said.
The institute, an agency of the Commerce Department, is
overseeing development of cyber security standards aimed at keeping the
smart grid reliable and safe from sabotage. The experts doing the work
need to get it right. The transition to a smarter, cleaner, more
efficient power system could be cut short if the technology that
promises so many benefits were turned into a weapon.
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