cyber blah blah blah

I was reading slashdot the other day and ran across an interesting article. In it there was a discussion about the CIA admitting that 'cyberattacks' have caused at least one power outage that affected multiple cities.

This is, on the whole, an interesting bit of information - quite a bit more interesting when put in the context of what has been said. On Dec 28, I had a little discussion about the proposed NSA/DHS joint program which would be used to monitor internet traffic on US commercial links. The section relevent to the power outage is the following quote:

Policymakers have become increasingly alarmed at the vulnerability of trains, nuclear power plants, electrical grids and other key infrastructure systems, which rely on Internet-based controls that could be hijacked remotely to produce a catastrophic attack.

In another article from Forbes, we can get a little more information (sans details):

Cyber-security experts have long warned of the vulnerability of critical infrastructure like power, transportation and water systems to malicious hackers. Friday, those warnings quietly became a reality: Tom Donahue, a CIA official, revealed at the SANS security trade conference in New Orleans that hackers have penetrated power systems in several regions outside the U.S., and "in at least one case, caused a power outage affecting multiple cities."

What is quite hysterical is at the same time as this is playing out we have a fluff interview of Mike McConnell by the Wall Street Journal where he states:

Spychief Mike McConnell is drafting a plan to protect America’s cyberspace that will raise privacy issues and make the current debate over surveillance law look like “a walk in the park,” McConnell tells The New Yorker in the issue set to hit newsstands Monday. “This is going to be a goat rope on the Hill. My prediction is that we’re going to screw around with this until something horrendous happens.”

At issue, McConnell acknowledges, is that in order to accomplish his plan, the government must have the ability to read all the information crossing the Internet in the United States in order to protect it from abuse. Congressional aides tell The Journal that they, too, are also anticipating a fight over civil liberties that will rival the battles over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

So, to set the stage we have a joint NSA/DHS program that expressly states that it is interested in monitoring both governmental and non-governmental internet traffic which has remained a non-discussed non-issue even to the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. This program is being driven by Mr. McConnell. A common argument for this program is that it will be used to secure sensitive and critical infrastructure against cyberattacks. Imagine my surprise when the CIA announces multiple city power outages based on computer attacks (and, errr, insiders - but we digress!).

Back to your regularly scheduled programs.