cyber attack on power grid 2022

Data reveals tha t 77% of assets within the energy sector retain porous Information Technology (IT) or Operational Technology (OT) boundaries, making them uniquely vulnerable to cyber threats. The U.S. power grid is a key potential target for a Russian cyberattack as tensions increase over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. At least 108 human-related events were reported during the first eight months of 2022, compared with 99 in all of 2021 and 97 in 2020. Increased funding could be achieved through a user fee similar to the universal service fee on phone lines, though a new tax on consumers may not be politically feasible. Based on precedents from both cyber- and non-cyberattacks over multiple administrations, government agencies would likely advocate for a show of firm resolve but recommend avoiding a rush to judgment or an immediate counterattack. November 4, 2022 In one scenario, disruption of just nine transformers could cause widespread outages. 1) Cyber-Threats To The Grid And Critical Infrastructure Abound. In an indictment issued last week, the U.S. Justice Department said Russian agents persistently targeted more than 3,300 . BRINK Conversations and Insights on Global Business (brinknews.com), An outcome of solar storms can be electronic magnetic pulses (EMPs) that can destroy digital infrastructure, including vital financial, transportation, healthcare, telecommunications, and energy verticals. Even before Christmas Day attacks on power substations in five states in the Pacific Northwest and Southeast, similar incidents of attacks, vandalism and suspicious activitywere on the rise. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The energy sector has a target on its back. Systematic resiliency planning is also vital for restoring power for various contingencies. Anonymous: How hackers are trying to undermine Putin. As the lead federal agency for the energy sector, DOE has developed plans to implement a national cybersecurity strategy for protecting the grid. Amidst rising geopolitical tensions, cyber attacks against critical . Motives include geopolitics, sabotage and financial reasons. These threat actors are increasingly capable of attacking the grid. Securing the U.S. Electricity Grid from Cyberattacks | U.S. GAO. In January, the Department of Homeland Security said domestic extremists had been developing "credible, specific plans"since at least 2020 and would continue to "encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure.". The cyber attack also affected the phone and email systems but spared the power grid and fiber network. by James McBride Such a regimenthe Critical Infrastructure Protection Standards established by the North America Electric Reliability Council (NERC)has been in place for over a decade, though GAO has found that many standards remain voluntary and the extent to which utilities have implemented these standards is unknown. The number of direct physical attacks, including acts of vandalism and other suspicious activity, that potentially threatened grid reliability rose 77% to 163 in 2022 from the previous year . A highly disturbing and realistic possibility one, in fact, that has been a headache for years has moved up a notch amid the Russia-sparked war in Ukraine. However,we found that DOEs plans do not fully incorporate the key characteristics of an effective national strategy. A regulatory approach could theoretically set a minimum standard, thereby leveling costs across all companies and addressing cost-cutting in security measures. (Dakota News Now) - Attacks on the U.S. power grid increased in 2022, and local electric utility companies are preparing their security systems for any threats. According to Chris Hurst, vice president of Value Engineering at OnSolve , emerging threats suggest additional protections may be needed, such as additional perimeter setbacks (where possible), removing sight lines, additional roving security and monitoring, and hardening protective barriers. The POWER Interview: Physical Attacks on the Grid Soared in 2022. Industroyer2 had been scheduled to cut power for a region in Ukraine on April 8 th; fortunately, the attack was thwarted before it could wreak further havoc on the war-torn country. February 1, 2023 Making public attribution of attacks a routine practice could be a deterrent. Article Source: U.S. Dept. Clearly, someone, or 10,000 someones per minute, in Iran has shown a desire to cyberattack our nation. To them, cybersecurity is not emerging. The goal of the organization is to bring utility CEOs, CISOs, CIOs, and operational executives together in a trusted forum to confidently build an industry-wide cybersecurity game plan. cutting power to more than 14,000 customers. The bottom line is that cybersecurity for the U.S. Energy Grid must be elevated, One group elevating preparedness is an organization called The Electric Grid Cybersecurity Alliance. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Efforts to improve data sharing that could enable detection by one company to block access across the entire industry are in their infancy. with Heidi Campbell and Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, with Ivan Kanapathy, Bonny Lin and Stephen S. Roach. In January 2023, a bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned that domestic violent extremists "have developed credible, specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020, identifying the electric grid as a particularly attractive target. The DOE highlighted six main avenues for . The hypothetical attack targeted power generators to cause a blackout covering fifteen states and the District of Columbia, leaving ninety-three million people without power. Industry experts, federal officials and others have warned in one report after another since at least 1990that thepower grid was at risk, said Granger Morgan, an engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University who chaired three National Academies of Sciences reports. And they dont think the industry has done enough. Miri said that he started the Electric Grid Cybersecurity Alliance to constructively bring these two communities together. Authentication Mechanisms for Energy Delivery Systems: Automated Methods to Discover and Mitigate Vulnerabilities: Cybersecurity through Advanced Software Solutions: Integration of New Concepts and Technologies with Existing Infrastructure. The White House would set the public posture for the response. [These attacks] are a real threat.. If, on the other hand, the U.S. government shows firm resolve in the face of the attack and does not change its behavior in the interest of the attacker, the event is unlikely to have significant consequences for the role of the United States abroad. So, how is the electricity grid vulnerable and what could happen if it were attacked? According to Ukrainian officials, around 70 government websites, including the . 20 March 2022. Michael Assante, the former chief information security officer for NERC, argues that utilities should design their systems with backup tools that are either not connected to any information technology networks or are analog. The two men pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide . Sectors such as finance and the defense industrial base have developed strong information sharing practices with government support. Through cooperation, the U.S. government has been able to determine the parties behind most major attacks. April 12, 2022. Emulating these efforts in the electricity sector would be a valuable government contribution to help owners and operators in the industry protect themselves. The attackers disrupted the supply of oil supplies on the US East coast and demonstrated the lack of a cybersecurity framework for both preparation and incident response. We prioritize recommendations that need immediate attention. Stay informed as we add new reports & testimonies. Potential indicators could include smaller test-run attacks outside the United States on systems that are used in the United States; intelligence collection that indicates an adversary is conducting reconnaissance or is in the planning stages; deterioration in relations leading to escalatory steps such as increased intelligence operations, hostile rhetoric, and recurring threats; and increased probing of electric sector networks and/or the implementation of malware that is detected by more sophisticated utilities. Shelley Lynch, a spokesperson for the FBI's Charlottefield office, confirmed the bureau was investigating the North Carolina attack. Disabling or otherwise interfering with the power grid in a significant way could thus seriously harm the United States. Cybersecurity firm Insikt Group found network intrusions at seven Indian State Load Dispatch Centers (SLDCs) that conduct real-time operations for grid control and . Power plants and substations are dispersed in every corner of the country, connected by transmission lines that transport electricity through farmland, forests and swamps. The attacks come at a time of heightened tensions with Moscow, as about 100,000 Russian troops backed by tanks and . March 24, 2022. Numbers for 2015 show a similar pattern. Consumer Internet of Things (IoT) devices connected to the grids distribution. LinkedIn named Chuck as one of The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn. He was named Cybersecurity Person of the Year for 2022 by The Cyber Express, and as one of the worlds 10 Best Cyber Security and Technology Experts by Best Rated, as a Top 50 Global Influencer in Risk, Compliance, by Thompson Reuters, Best of The Word in Security by CISO Platform, and by IFSEC, and Thinkers 360 as the #2 Global Cybersecurity Influencer. He was featured in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Onalytica "Who's Who in Cybersecurity" He was also named one of the Top 5 Executives to Follow on Cybersecurity by Executive Mosaic, He is also a Cybersecurity Expert for The Network at the Washington Post, Visiting Editor at Homeland Security Today, Expert for Executive Mosaic/GovCon, and a Contributor to FORBES. Risk managers at utilities will argue that they must balance the possibility of a cyberattack against the near certainty that weather events will affect their customers. The US Department of Energy (DoE) reported 150 successful . Doing so would reflect the developing norms against peacetime attacks on critical infrastructure as agreed to in the UN Group of Governmental Experts. They wanted to knock out the substation, Jon Wellinghoff, the then chair of Ferc, told 60 Minutes, adding that the attack could have brought down all of Silicon Valley. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid. Thousands of electric substations dot our nation's landscape. Print |. All rights reserved. These recommendations have not been implemented yet, leaving the grid vulnerable. American-made guns trafficked through Florida ports are destabilizing the Caribbean and Central America and fueling domestic crime. It's spread all across the countryside," which makes the lines and substationseasy targets, Morgansaid. The agency has not yet confirmed if it is investigating the incidents. These options would include a show of military force, such as moving U.S. ships into disputed waters or staging exercises in contested regions; response in kind, through cyberspace; traditional military options; public and private diplomacy; use of economic sanctions targeting the state and the private entities or individuals involved; use of international law enforcement to arrest any parties involved; and targeting of known intelligence assets. The governments main role would be attributing the attack and responding to it. The Public/Private Imperative to Protect the Grid Community | GovLoop, North America network connections. The 2003 Northeast Blackout left fifty million people without power for four days and caused economic losses between $4 billion and $10 billion. In December 2022, power station attacks in Moore . Cyber criminals are targeting the energy infrastructure in the U.S, including pipelines, refineries and power grids to attack their operations and . by James McBride and Noah Berman Fri 8 Apr 2022 // 07:58 UTC. The central microprocessor has an integrated security lock in glowing yellow color. by Claire Klobucista and Alejandra Martinez A power plant employee adjusts the wiring of a power unit in North Texas. However, the experience of other countries and the technical reality of the internet suggest that these firewalls are ineffective for cybersecurity but well suited to restricting speech online and censoring information. Global Thought Leader in Cybersecurity and Emerging Tech, data connection, concept about IoT, global business, fintech, blockchain. Cybersecurity by design necessitates building agile systems with operational cyber-fusion to be able to monitor, recognize and respond to emerging threats. As of 2022, the average age of the power grid is 32 years old. Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) said in a statement on Thursday that it was seeking tips about trespassing, vandalism and malicious damage of equipment at a substation in Clackamas county on 24 November that caused damage and required cleanup costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. These fringe groups have been talking about this for a long time, Taylor said. (powermag.com), Will Vulnerable U.S. Electric Grid Get a New Protection Mandate? by on May 19, 2022. After the 2013 attack in California, a Ferc analysis found that attackers could cause a blackout coast-to-coast if they took out only nine of the 55,000 substations in the US. Unlike enterprise information technology, the industrial control systems that control the power grid typically perform single functions and need to communicate only with a small set of other devices in routine patterns. In 2016, the Department of Energy (DOE) received only three reports of cyber incidents at utilities; none of the incidents affected customers. As was done with aviation security after 9/11, Congress would likely move quickly to take over responsibility for protecting the grid from cyberattack by either creating a new agency or granting new authorities to an existing agency such as U.S. Cyber Command. FEMA should develop a response plan for a prolonged regional blackout that addresses the logistical difficulties of responding at scale in an environment degraded by the loss of power. GAO found cybersecurity information sharing weak across the sector. A 2018 military study by the Air Force titled, Electromagnetic Defense Task Force, warned that an EMP weapon attack such as those developed by adversaries could destroy our way of life and displace millions. A A. The United States is not prepared for such an attack." "It is now clear this cyber threat is one [of] the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation," President Obama said during a speech. 02/25/2022 06:00 PM EST. Comment |. In August of 2022, the Department of Energy (DOE) pledged $45 million "to create, accelerate, and test technology that will protect our electric grid from cyber-attacks," while also helping America attain cleaner energy and a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. Posted on October 12, 2022. In February 2022, three men pled guilty to conspiring to attack substations with explosives and ghost guns in furtherance of white supremacy ideology. The president should choose a strategy that combines these options in such a way as to deter the adversary from escalating furtherthe adversary should recognize that the consequences of continued escalation will be severe and choose to cease hostile activity, allowing a reset of the relationship. Christmas Day attacks on power substations. by Charles Landow and James McBride by Mitchell Ferman March 31, 2022 5 AM Central. China launched "probing cyber attacks" on India's power grid in strategically located Ladakh thrice since December 2021 but did not succeed because safeguards were in place to thwart such intrusions, Union Power Minister R K Singh said on Thursday. Someone clearly wanted to damage equipment and, possibly, cause a power outage, said John Lahti, the utilitys transmission vice-president of field services. ESET . . It is unclear who is behind the attacks on power stations. How the U.S. Can Protect Its Power Grid. Taiwan's digital minister Audrey Tang said the volume of cyber attacks on Taiwan government units on Tuesday, before and during Pelosi's arrival, surpassed 15,000 gigabits, 23 times higher than . A geomagnetic storm can be defined as a major disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere that occurs when there is an exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space ecosphere surrounding Earth. To ensure that the United States will be able to maintain military operations even in the face of a large blackout, the Trump administration should plan to end the reliance of military installations on the grid. (modern). World Map credits to NASA: [+] https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=55167. In the Lloyds scenario, only 10 percent of targeted generators needed to be taken down to cause a widespread blackout. Russia has already been active in targeting energy-related systems. gunfire was reported near a hydropower plant, have warned in one report after another since at least 1990, Power restoredfollowing damage at power substations, North Carolina substations attack is latestinfrastructure threat, Outages in North Carolina county could last days, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Such sophisticated actions would require extensive planning by an organization able to recruit and coordinate a team that has a broad set of capabilities and is willing to devote many months, if not years, to the effort. But the electricity grid is an attractive target for cyberattacks from U.S. adversariessuch as nations like China and Russia, as well as individual bad actors, such as insiders and criminals. After the North Carolina attacks, acoordinating council between the electric power industry and the federal government ordered a security evaluation. Increasing the number of interconnected resources supplying the electric grid will also expand the potential attack surface for cybercriminals. Conceived as the principal defenders of the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has evolved into an institution with vast political, economic, and military power. Protective Measures. For example, grid distribution systemswhich carry electricity from transmission systems to consumershave grown more vulnerable, in part because their operational technology increasingly allows remote access and connections to business networks. America is a powerful country, but its power grid is vulnerable. In the Ukraine case, attackers targeted substations that lower transmission voltages for distribution to consumers. Solar flares are made up of high-energy particles resulting from explosions on the Suns surface. More than a dozen cases of vandalism have been reported since September. Preventing an attack will require improving the security of the power grid as well as creating a deterrence posture that would dissuade adversaries from attacking it. We have 18 critical infrastructures food, water, medical care, telecommunications, investments, the works and all 17 of the others depend heavily on the electric grid, said former CIA Director, James Woolsey, before the Cybersecurity and EMP Legislative Working Group. They are growing in sophistication and in some cases rival, if not exceed, the capabilities of nation states. . The physical risks to the power grid have been . April 25, 2023 A USA TODAY analysis of reports that utilities provided to the Department of Energy through August show: Since September, attacks or potential attacks have been reported on at least 18 additional substations and one power plantin Florida, Oregon, Washington and the Carolinas. Annual Lecture on China. Christopher Brenner Cook, 20, of Columbus, Ohio, and Jonathan Allen Frost, 24, of Katy, Texas, were sentenced in federal court for their involvement in a plot to attack U.S. power grids to advance white supremacist ideology. Automated Cyberattack Prevention and Mitigation, DOE Announces $45 Million for Next-Generation Cyber Tools to Protect the Power Grid | Department of Energy. by Olivia Angelino, Thomas J. Bollyky, Elle Ruggiero and Isabella Turilli A large-scale cyberattack on the U.S. power grid could inflict considerable damage. An adversary with the capability to exploit vulnerabilities within the U.S. power grid might be motivated to carry out such an attack under a variety of circumstances. May 19, 2022. Other actions for addressing grid cybersecurity risks. The grid is vulnerable to cyberattacks that could cause catastrophic, widespread, and lengthy blackouts. This timeline traces the role of the outside forces that have beleaguered eastern Congo since the end of the colonial era. Note: This blog has been updated. They were not designed with security in mind and cannot be updated. A devastating attack might also prompt calls to create a national firewall, like China and other countries have, to inspect all traffic at national borders. Illustration of a coronal mass ejection impacting the Earth s atmosphere. (powermag.com). Those operations need to be exercised on a regional and coordinated basis. In 2013, still unknown assailants cut fiber-optic phone lines and used a sniper to fire shots at a Pacific Gas & Electric substation near San Jose in what appeared to be a carefully planned attack that caused millions of dollars in damage. Characterizing an attack on the power grid as an armed attack would likely have the strongest deterrent effect. The newly created Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence should ensure that collection and analysis of threats to the grid are an intelligence priority and that intelligence on threats to the grid are downgraded and shared with targeted utilities. Thus, securing these systems and detecting malicious activity should, in theory, be relatively simple. Two of the attacks shared similarities with the incident in Moore county, North Carolina, where two stations were hit by gunfire. By Kevin Collier. But while large-scale operations have not . Together with continually demonstrating law enforcement and intelligence capabilities to attribute the sources of cyberattacks, a strong statement on deterrence could do more than anything else to prevent an attack on the grid. Actions taken now could significantly mitigate the effects of a large-scale blackout caused by a cyberattack. NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / April 27, 2023 / Edison International. In 2022 there were several attacks by White supremacists on northwest power grid electrical substations in Oregon and Washington. Cyber Attacks on the Power Grid. ABERDEEN, S.D. Authorities have not yet revealed a motive for the North Carolina attack. They have been warning about this threat for decades and are frustrated. Power companies use Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) networks to control their industrial systems and many of these SCADA networks need to be updated and hardened to meet growing cybersecurity threats. The U.S. electric grid faces significant cybersecurity risks from a variety of actors, including criminals, terrorists, "hacktivists," and foreign governments. US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report. Several involved firearms. Based on data from DOE, physical attacks on the grid rose 77% in 2022. The existential threat to the U.S. Energy Grid can come from a variety of angles. Cyber Attacks, Ukraine, Russia's . A string of attacks on power facilities in Oregon and Washington has . A model for such an approach could be borrowed from the nuclear sector, where the Nuclear Regulatory Council has established so-called Design Basis Threats and requires nuclear plant operators to prove that they have the controls in place to defeat such threats. Rapid digitization combined with low levels of investment in cybersecurity and a weak regulatory regime suggest that the U.S. power system is as vulnerableif not more vulnerableto a cyberattack as systems in other parts of the world. Unfortunately, the US has had much practice in this area and preparation and resilience and the key to recovery. Yet critics of the program argue that it is too expensive for most utilities to participate in and that it is only focused on detecting threats at network boundaries rather than within ICS networks. Its very vulnerable, said Keith Taylor, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who has worked with energy utilities. Russian military hackers tried and failed to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure last week, the country's government and a major cybersecurity . The Democratic Republic of Congo has been subjected to centuries of international intervention by European powers, as well as its African neighbors. Components are labelled with random serial numbers, with many connections glowing in yellow color too. In 2014, Admiral Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, testified before the U.S. Congress that China and a few other countries likely had the capability to shut down the U.S. power grid. The most recent attacks in North Carolina and Washington state heighten . Agencies would present a range of options to respond. In 2022 there were several attacks by White supremacists on northwest power grid electrical substations in Oregon and Washington. Iran, as an emergent cyber actor, could acquire such capability. Thus, an adversarys expectations that it could attack the power grid anonymously and with impunity could be unfounded. Based on data from DOE, physical attacks on the grid rose 77% in 2022. The GAO notes that the grid distribution systemswhich carry electricity from transmission systems to consumers have grown more vulnerable, in part because their operational technology increasingly allows remote access and connections to business networks. Experts have warned for more than three decades that stepped-up security was needed for the nation's power grid. Russian hackers penetrated networks connecting U.S. electric companies in 2017, placing cyber implants thatif not discoveredcould have led to severe outages. The truth is, it is nigh on impossible to make the entire network impregnable. The effect on hospitals, police departments, banks, gas stations, military . There are many ways to help mitigate threats to the energy infrastructure from cyber, physical and existential causes. Humans in orbit are also very vulnerable to these events, whose high-energy particles are not shield by typical spacecraft. An attack on the power grid could be part of a coordinated military action, intended as a signaling mechanism during a crisis, or as a punitive measure in response to U.S. actions in some other arena. Any attack on electric infrastructure potentially puts the safety of the public and our workers at risk, said BPA, which delivers hydropower across the Pacific north-west . March 23, 2023 The U.S. electricity grid is really three interconnected transmission grids covering the contiguous United States, as well as parts of Canada and Mexico.
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