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Report: Hackers can now cause blackouts on US electrical grid
American Thinker ^ | 09/07/2017 | Rick Moran

Posted on 09/09/2017 11:48:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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1 posted on 09/09/2017 11:48:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

I’m ignorant, and probably show ignorance with this question.

My question is, why are power stations apparently connected to the internet?? Power stations were operating, delivering electricity long before the internet existed. Can’t these power stations operate the old fashioned way, without the internet, so they can’t be hacked??

Pardon my likely ignorance, but I don’t understand certain things.


2 posted on 09/09/2017 11:51:45 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Good question. Probably someone in the govt thought it was a good idea.


3 posted on 09/09/2017 11:57:30 AM PDT by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The warning was given years ago, and nobody did anything.

All the muzzies would have to do would be to topple 5-6 power transmission towers near major cities. The media hype and the panic it engenders would be enough to bring everything to a halt.


4 posted on 09/09/2017 11:58:36 AM PDT by I want the USA back (Lying Media: completely irresponsible. Complicit in the destruction of this country.)
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To: I want the USA back

How would the media operate if the power’s out?


5 posted on 09/09/2017 12:01:22 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: SeekAndFind

This ability has always been here. Not like it was perfect before and someone just wrote the first virus for it.

This is more dangerous than any EMP threat from a bomb.


6 posted on 09/09/2017 12:05:22 PM PDT by Celerity
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To: Dilbert San Diego

I’m in the same camp as you. It surely seems that grid controls could be private.


7 posted on 09/09/2017 12:10:42 PM PDT by GingisK
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To: SeekAndFind

No power plant computers should be tied to the internet. INSANE.

Private, satellite linked network for comms.

Can’t believe how stupid the government is.


8 posted on 09/09/2017 12:16:10 PM PDT by Bryan24 (When in doubt, move to the right..........)
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To: Bryan24

You got that right. Internal intra net with no contact to the web.


9 posted on 09/09/2017 12:31:08 PM PDT by b4its2late (A Liberal is a person who will give away everything he doesn't own.)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
Too many things are online. Hackers have shown again and again that they can access important information and equipment. Yeah, it's very cool when it works right. But...

10 posted on 09/09/2017 12:45:52 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault (Kill: Antifa, SPLC, CNN, ESPN, NFL, NPR, TWITTER, FACEBOOK)
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To: b4its2late

And those comms should be encrypted.


11 posted on 09/09/2017 12:47:10 PM PDT by Bryan24 (When in doubt, move to the right..........)
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To: SeekAndFind

When I posted these same articles no that long ago I was repeatedly told it can’t happen and the power companies have sufficient safeguards in place to prevent such and I was being a chicken little. I expect the same FReepers to come along shortly and tell you to unwad your ‘panties’.


12 posted on 09/09/2017 12:48:59 PM PDT by Kartographer ("We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.")
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Control systems isolated from Internet.


13 posted on 09/09/2017 12:48:59 PM PDT by TexasGator
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: GingisK

They are.


15 posted on 09/09/2017 12:50:57 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Kartographer
"When I posted these same articles no that long ago I was repeatedly told it can’t happen and the power companies have sufficient safeguards in place to prevent such and I was being a chicken little. I expect the same FReepers to come along shortly and tell you to unwad your ‘panties’."

Unwed your panties. You should have learned from the previous posts!

16 posted on 09/09/2017 12:53:24 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Bryan24

“No power plant computers should be tied to the internet. INSANE.”

Power plant computers are NOT tied to the internet. To get something on or off the plant computer you have to file a work request and have it approved and performed by the IT department.


17 posted on 09/09/2017 12:54:58 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: Dilbert San Diego

First, power generation is different from power distribution. Second, it is the control over power distribution that is most vulnerable to internet attack. Controls sytems have always been there.

SCADA controls were adopted to reduce the cost of man hours of work necessary to control the grid. The grid is now far larger than what was in play in the 1950’s and 60’s

SCADA controls have been phased out for IP (internet protocol) for all the same reasons that just about every other IT shop uses IP today.

Understand that just because the IP controls are in place, does not mean that the control is connected to the Internet.


18 posted on 09/09/2017 12:57:40 PM PDT by taxcontrol (Stupid should hurt)
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To: I want the USA back
?The warning was given years ago, and nobody did anything.

The reason has to do with the idiots in the CIA - and FBI - who think they have a right to tap into anything they want to tap into and who have understood for a long time that vulnerabilities in our systems are also things we can exploit in the systems of others. Quite simply all of these networks need to be private and secure - encrypted with clear protocols keeping outsiders out.


19 posted on 09/09/2017 1:00:11 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson

“The reason has to do with the idiots in the CIA - and FBI - who think they have a right to tap into anything they want to tap into and who have understood for a long time that vulnerabilities in our systems are also things we can exploit in the systems of others. “

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!


20 posted on 09/09/2017 1:13:49 PM PDT by TexasGator
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