by Claire Klobucista and Alejandra Martinez Duke Energy workers repair an electrical substation that they said was hit by gunfire, near Pinehurst, North Carolina, on Tuesday. protect the nation's power grid, but experts have warned . The General Accounting Office (GAO) has explicitly stated that the U.S, Energy Grid is vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Through cooperation, the U.S. government has been able to determine the parties behind most major attacks. ", In February 2023, authorities arrested and charged two white supremacist suspects in connection with an alleged plot to attack and take down the power grid in Baltimore, Maryland. Over the past 150 years, the earth has been struck by more than 100 solar storms In 2008, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that the damage and disruption of the grid caused by a solar flare could cost up to $2 trillion in economic damages, with a full recovery time of four to 10 years. A string of attacks on power facilities in Oregon and Washington has caused alarm and highlighted the vulnerabilities of the US electric grid. April 6, 2023, Backgrounder These fringe groups have been talking about this for a long time, Taylor said. Twice this year, the Department of Homeland Security warned "a heightened threat environment" remains for the nation, including its critical infrastructure. The central microprocessor has an integrated security lock in glowing yellow color. WASHINGTON, D.C. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $45 million to create, accelerate, and test technology that will protect our electric grid from cyber-attacks to seamlessly help deploy clean and cheap energy to Americans.Cyber threats to American energy systems can shut down critical energy infrastructure and disrupt energy supply, the economy, and the health of . The new reality is that most of the U.S. Energy Grid critical infrastructure components operate in a digital environment that is internet accessible. 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. After identifying this vulnerability, we recommended the Department of Energy (DOE)in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, state, and industry partnersaddress risks to the distribution systems. Miri says that the stated mission of the Alliance is to unite utility leaders with one goal: to protect the worlds electric grids from cyberattack., Miri characterized to me the state of the industry in response to cybersecurity. Requiring the ability to shift to manual controls and exercising those controls on an annual basis might now be the most valuable step to take. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Regardless of which part of the power grid is targeted, attackers would need to conduct extensive research, gain initial access to utility business networks (likely through spearphishing), work to move through the business networks to gain access to control systems, and then identify targeted systems and develop the capability to disable them. The DHS has cited a document shared on a Telegram channel used by extremists that included a white supremacist guide to attacking an electric grid with firearms, CNN reported. . The Texas energy sector has been increasingly probed for weaknesses by . A large-scale cyberattack on the U.S. power grid could inflict considerable damage. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)which regulates the interstate transmission of electricityhas approved mandatory grid cybersecurity standards. As a starting point, the administration should be clear that an action against the grid would be treated as an armed attack and signal that a military response in or out of cyberspace would likely be required. ESET . With respect to the former, a cyberattack could cause power losses in large portions of the United States that could last days in most places and up to several weeks in others. 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. Federal agencies should also be provided with specific mission jurisdictions for implementing risk management policy frameworks in coordination with regulators, and utilities themselves. A record number of attacks on electrical grids plunged thousands of Americans into darkness last year, as authorities worry neo-Nazis are targeting critical . There have also been foiled attacks. cutting power to more than 14,000 customers. As the Lloyds analysis concluded, only 10 percent of targeted generators needed to be taken offline to cause widespread harm. GAO found cybersecurity information sharing weak across the sector. Reliable electricity is essential to the conveniences of modern life and vital to our nations economy and security. Its very vulnerable, said Keith Taylor, a professor at the University of California, Davis, who has worked with energy utilities. For National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (October), todays WatchBlog post looks at two of our recent reports on cybersecurity risks to the U.S. electric grid and federal efforts to address them. The cyber attack also affected the phone and email systems but spared the power grid and fiber network. Original: Mar 15, 2022. They see cybersecurity as an emerging risk that is being methodically addressed. In the Ukraine case, attackers targeted substations that lower transmission voltages for distribution to consumers. They can damage artificial satellites and cause long-lasting power outages. According to Ukrainian officials, around 70 government websites, including the . These devices are often accessible from the public internet and use weak authentication mechanisms. The country has inflicted malware on America in the past and might not be particularly concerned . Two other suspects were recently charged in . It is unclear who is behind the attacks on power stations. by Charles Landow and James McBride . Thompson: Previous Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid and other Russian cyber actions have already had an impact on U.S. national security because we face the same threat. 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 . For example, the strategy does not include a complete assessment of all the cybersecurity risks to the grid. Home | EGCA (electricgridcyber.org). This could allow threat actors to access those systems and potentially disrupt operations. According to reporting by Politico, there have been 101 physical and cyber attacks on equipment that delivers electricity nationwide just through August of 2022, which is . World Map credits to NASA: [+] https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=55167. The attack on the Ukrainian power grid in 2015 was the first publicly documented cyberattack against critical infrastructure that led to a power outage (FireEye Citation 2016) and the first known attack on an energy grid carried out completely remote ("Power grid cyberattack" Citation 2019; McLellan Citation 2016). The agency has not yet confirmed if it is investigating the incidents. By Grant Asplund, Cyber Security Evangelist, Check Point Software. It is here. Industrial Control Systems: The integration of cheaper and more widely available devices that use traditional networking protocols into industrial control systems has led to a larger cyberattack surface for the grids systems. 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. of Justice. Physical Attacks Target US Grid in At Least Four States in Three Months. (powermag.com), Will Vulnerable U.S. Electric Grid Get a New Protection Mandate? Carrying out a cyberattack that successfully disrupts grid operations would be extremely difficult but not impossible. There are more than 55,000 transmission substations, the grid's exit ramps where high-voltage power is stepped down . Its unknown who is behind the attacks but experts have long warned of discussion among extremists of disrupting the nations power grid. Maintaining and exercising manual operations of the grid, planning and exercising recovery operations, and continually expanding distributed power could significantly shorten the duration of any blackout and reduce economic and societal damage. NERC reliability standards call for a risk-based approach in the implementation of physical security safeguards that include access Control, key cards, alarms, and roving security. You can cause a ripple effect where one outage can cause an entire seaboard to go down., The Associated Press contributed to this report, FBI joins investigation into attack on North Carolina power grid, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. with Heidi Campbell and Paul Brandeis Raushenbush September 14, 2022. In developing its policy, the U.S. government should keep in mind that a strong policy against targeting U.S. systems could constrain U.S. military options to target foreign systems. Cyber Attacks on the Power Grid. Additional threats to the smart grid include: Denial of Service (DoS) - An attack against the availability of the network. April 20, 2023, By entering your email and clicking subscribe, you're agreeing to receive announcements from CFR about our products and services, as well as invitations to CFR events. The continued expansion of distributed generation in the form of wind and solar installations could also significantly reduce the magnitude of an attack on the grid; however, most rooftop systems feed directly into the grid, and homes and businesses do not draw from their own systems. 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. 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. An adversary abuses an organization using equipment with unknown exploitable features. A deep learning-based cyber-attack detection and location identification system for critical infrastructures is proposed by constructing new representations and model the system behavior using multilayer autoencoders and has outperformed conventional . A curation of original analyses, data visualizations, and commentaries, examining the debates and efforts to improve health worldwide. The U.S. power grid is a key potential target for a Russian cyberattack as tensions increase over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. A regulatory approach could theoretically set a minimum standard, thereby leveling costs across all companies and addressing cost-cutting in security measures. These technologies are available for protecting the grid; it comes down to investment and leadership to ameliorate vulnerabilities. This is good news as both government and industry need to better collaborate in the energy sector and focus on cybersecurity. Puget Sound Energy, an energy utility in Washington, reported two cases of vandalism at two substations in late November to the FBI and peer utilities, but said the incidents appeared to be unrelated to other recent attacks. The U.S. power grid is suffering a decade-high surge in attacks as extremists, vandals and cyber criminals increasingly take aim at the nation's . However,we found that DOEs plans do not fully incorporate the key characteristics of an effective national strategy. Thus, the United States should take measures to prevent a cyberattack on its power grid and mitigate the potential harm should preventive efforts fail. 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. Ukraine's Governmental Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) announced that Russia's state-backed threat group Sandworm launched two waves of cyberattacks against an unnamed Ukrainian energy . The attacks in the Pacific north-west are similar to the assault on North Carolina power stations that cut electricity to 40,000 people. 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. 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. If the incident reveals a U.S. vulnerability in cyberspace that can be targeted to deter the United States from taking action abroad, the implications of the incident would be profound. So, how is the electricity grid vulnerable and what could happen if it were attacked? Global Health Program, Why the Situation in Cuba Is Deteriorating, In Brief One challenge is that there's no single entity whose responsibilities span the entire system, Morgan said. In each case, the United States should consider not only the potential damage and disruption caused by a cyberattack but also its broader effects on U.S. actions at the time it occurs. Backgrounder 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. Attackers do not necessarily have to get close to cause significant damage. More than 700 individuals associated with the bulk power grid and other related critical infrastructure participated in a simulation this week designed to test resilience against a major physical . Based on data from DOE, physical attacks on the grid rose 77% in 2022. How the U.S. Can Protect Its Power Grid. Russian military hackers tried and failed to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure last week, the country's government and a major cybersecurity . These response options would clarify how the U.S. government would respond not only to a successful attack but also to a failed attempt and to the discovery of adversarial probing and exploration to prepare for an attack. But while large-scale operations have not . The average top-tier utility plant maintains a . (powermag.com). He has an MA in International relations from the University of Chicago, a BA in Political Science from DePauw University, and a Certificate in International Law from The Hague Academy of International Law. Religion and Foreign Policy Webinars, C.V. Starr & Co. During the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, multiple cyberattacks against Ukraine were recorded, as well as some attacks on Russia.The first major cyberattack took place on 14 January 2022, and took down more than a dozen of Ukraine's government websites. | Tripwire, Cybersecurity for Smart Grid Systems | NIST, Baltimore power grid attack plot: Sarah Beth Clendaniel and Brandon Russell arrested, officials say - CBS News, The POWER Interview: Physical Attacks on the Grid Soared in 2022. DHSs emergency response organization FEMA has been a leader in accomplishing this mission. A power plant employee adjusts the wiring of a power unit in North Texas. ABERDEEN, S.D. On December 3, 2022 at approximately 7PM, people started shooting high-powered rifles at two of the county's major electrical substations . DOE labs have also funded research projects on the specific cybersecurity needs of utilities. Although cyberattacks by terrorist and criminal organizations cannot be ruled out, the capabilities necessary to mount a major operation against the U.S. power grid make potential state adversaries the principal threat. Posted on October 12, 2022. It said it was actively cooperating with the FBI. 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. Experts and intelligence analysts have long warned of both the vulnerability of the US power grid and talk among extremists about attacking the crucial infrastructure. Ukraine has been hit by a "massive" cyber-attack, . Attacks on the United States' power grid have been the subject of extremist chatter for some time, notably ticking up in 2020, the same year a 14-page how-to on low tech attacks, including . Illustration of a coronal mass ejection impacting the Earth s atmosphere. 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. Renewing America, Timeline State actors are the most likely perpetrators of a power grid attack. Collectively, these recommendations, if implemented, would greatly reduce the likelihood of an adversary deciding to conduct a cyberattack on the U.S. power grid while also improving the chances that the United States would manage any such attack without significant disruption of service. The U.S. secretary of energy has said Russia could do the same thing here. In addition to the direct consequences of a cyberattack, how the United States responds also has implications for its management of the situation that may have prompted the attack in the first place, the state of relations with the apparent perpetrator, the perceived vulnerability of the United States, and the evolution of international norms on cyberwarfare. Deterrent Measures. In 2019, we recommendedthat FERC consider adopting changes to its approved standards to more fully address federal guidance and evaluate the potential risks of a coordinated attack. The grid includes more than 7,300 power plants,160,000 miles of high-voltage power linesand 55,000 transmission substations. Cyber Attacks on the Power Grid. LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Tuesday it had thwarted an attempt by Russian hackers last week to damage its electricity grid with a cyberattack. While modernization planning focuses on new energy related technologies for distribution, resilience, storage, and capability, it is also focused on cybersecurity. EMP emits pulses of energy that can be emitted from the blast of a nuclear weapon, portable devices like high power microwave weapons (HPMWs). At this level of damage, the American public would likely demand a forceful response, which could reshape U.S. geopolitical interests for decades. There are several points of vulnerability in the U.S.s system of electricity grids. Humans in orbit are also very vulnerable to these events, whose high-energy particles are not shield by typical spacecraft. We prioritize recommendations that need immediate attention. Within weeks, the U.S. government would have confidence in its attribution. Given the fragility of many industrial control systems, even reconnaissance activity risks accidentally causing harm. Finally, in March 2021, we found that the federal government does not have a good understanding of the scale of the potential impacts from attacks facing the component of the grid that is generally not subject to FERCs standards: distribution systems. Russia's cyber attack on Ukraine's grid in 2015 knocked about 60 substations offline, leaving 230,000 people in the dark. As the next generation of green power system, smart grids have gradually enhanced the operation efficiency of power system.

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