Every day, hackers ranging from high school kids to Iranian Revolutionary Guards search for ways to control or disrupt the flow of power in the United States or steal consumer information, according to regulators and security experts. Government regulators have recently focused on the physical security of the grid, following a possible terrorist attack last year on a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. substation in San Jose. Efforts to make the electrical grid "smarter" by using sensors, automation and communications technology have created new potential pathways for hackers to explore, experts say. In 2007, government researchers staged an experimental cyberattack, dubbed "Aurora," on an electric generator within a U.S. Department of Energy lab in Idaho, causing the generator to self-destruct. Working groupThe utility industry and several federal agencies have formed a working group of top-level executives and government officials who meet regularly on the subject. Utilities are also deploying a government-funded system called Cybersecurity Risk Information Sharing Program that monitors their networks for signs of hacker activity, using both unclassified and classified information to identify potential threats. Details of new malware can be shared among government agencies and utilities almost immediately, said Scott Aaronson, senior director for national security policy at the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade association.
Reported by SFGate 2 hours ago.
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