The Frightening Reality About How Easily Hackers Could Shut Down The US

by Bill Fester on August 6, 2013

in Uncategorized

Not that I’m remarkably paranoid, but honestly who hasn’t seen a reading that was not accurate on a control panel?

 

From The Business Insider

 

Geoffrey Ingersoll

 

Hacking into and shutting down industrial systems on which the U.S. relies is staggeringly easy, according to recent presentations from the Black Hat hacker conference.

Picture this: A few pump station operators along New York City’s water tunnels fire up their computers to check the status of various water pressure readings.

But their networks have been hacked, and the readings they see on their computers are not the real readings. The adjustments they make cause the water pressure to sky rocket, blowing several mains, and cutting water to various part of the city, if not the entire city. Sure these systems have redundancies, but those redundancies are vulnerable too.

Simultaneously, in other parts of the Northeast U.S., hacked high voltage transformers spin out of control and explode. The blackout could cut as wide as the Tri-State area, and last for months, compounding any attempts to fix the water lines.

No water. No electricity. Pure mayhem.

 

 

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