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The Department of
Energy (http://www.energy.gov) has
released a interim report on the Aug 14th power outages.
*remote terminal units (RTU)
*distributed control systems (DCS)
*supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) Straight to the good stuff, security.... which
starts on page 29, (phase 2 of failure matrix) the SWG (Security Working
Group, or Star Wars Galaxies ;) outlines that computer failure was a
primary cause of the blackouts. Logging systems failed first, 3
Remote Terminals (RTUs) failed along with unspecified
'dial-ups'. Can anyone shed some light on what 'dial-ups' they are talking
about?
~~~~~~~~~~~ Key Events ~~~~~~~~~~~
The first computer failure was to logging and alarm systems.
14:14 EDT: The control room operators lost the logging and
alarm function.
14:20 EDT: Several remote location console failed
14:41 EDT: The primary control system server hosting the alarm function
failed/ Its applications and functions were passed over to a backup server that
was standing by.
14:54 EDT: The back-up computer failed, and all functions that were running
on it stopped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Refresh rates of screens displaying critical data were reduced on an
average of 1 to 3 seconds, and slowed as long as 59 seconds per screen. For data
that changes hundreds of times a second, I would say that renders the terminals
useless. Quite similar to what Sandia National Laboratories (http://www.sandia.gov/) illustrates here,
misrepresentation or spoofed data being displayed: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cyberwar/view/
Sadly this report is over 130 pages, but draws no definitive links or
cause to the failures. In one paragraph malice activity is being denounced, the
next it's said that investigations are inconclusive and need more effort.
At least they admit all over the report that the
SCADA, DCS, RTU, and EMS systems are all insecure and highly vulnerable-
something that many pledged was untrue when this topic first
surfaced.
Cheers, Geoff Shively CTO PivX Solutions 24 Corporate Plaza #180 Newport Beach, CA 92660 http://www.pivx.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] 949-720-4628 PivX defines "Proactive Threat Mitigation. Get a FREE Beta Version of
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