Leave it to Micro$oft to fry the grid.... I would not be the least bit surprised if the below turns out to be true. In addition, I bet the power companies will shy away from M$ in the future even if it is not true.
Additionally, I have done some reading in the past about SCADA systems, and it is amazing how much stuff we depend on in our daily lives is controlled by M$ boxes. Shannon -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [worms] Fwd: CNN: 'Explores Possibility that Power Outage is Related to Internet Worm' Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 14:31:00 -0700 From: Stuart Staniford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Worms Group <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> This would be enormous if it turns out to be correct. Stuart. Begin forwarded message: > From: Virtual Master <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Fri Aug 15, 2003 11:49:06 AM US/Pacific > To: Geoff Shively <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: CNN: 'Explores Possibility that Power Outage is Related > to Internet Worm' > > The german publishing house "heise", producing the magazines c't and > ix, > got a news on their page mentioning a probable link between the worm > and > the power outage. > > http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/ju-15.08.03-001/ > > The article is in german, but I'm trying to translate the important > pieces > to english: > > The failing niagara power-plant belongs to National Grid USA. That > power-supplier is listed as a reference customer of Northern Dynamics. > Norhtern Dynamics labeled themselves as "Home of the OPC Experts" and > offer a range of products that use OPC for control and operation > systems. > > OPC stands for "Ole for process control" and is based on microsofts > COM/DCOM model. In a network affected by the W32.Blaster worm the > DCOM-communcation fails, and therefor OPC fails on unpatched systems. > > OPC is employed among other things for the linking of so called SCADA > systems (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), as used by > power-plants. > > The OPC experts from northern dynamics also list General Electrics, > Siemens AG, european power-plant constructor ABB and the european > organization for nuclear research as reference customers. > > Best regards, > > Dominic > > On Thu, 14 Aug 2003, Geoff Shively wrote: > >> Just flipped on CNN, watching the masses snake through the streets of >> Manhattan as correspondents state that this could be an affect of the >> blaster worm. >> >> Interesting but I don't see how an worm of this magnitude (smaller >> than that >> of Slammer/Sapphire and others) could influence DCS and SCADA systems >> around >> the US, particularly just in the North East. >> >> Thoughts? >> >> >> Cheers, >> >> Geoff Shively, CHO >> PivX Solutions, LLC >> >> Are You Secure? >> http://www.pivx.com >> >> > > > Stuart Staniford, President Tel: 707-445-4355 x 15 Silicon Defense - The Cyberwar Defense Company
