Apr 09 2009
Scary story about spies penetrating the electricity grid
An overwrought piece by the Wall Street Journal about spies penetrating the U.S. electricity grid generated a great deal of coverage in the press over the last day or so. Given the noise level, I expected a multi-page, tell-all analysis. Instead, when I actually read the story, it turned out to be a fairly brief write-up, short on facts and mostly rehashing known issues. It also implies parts of the grid are vulnerable due its level of Internet connectivity. This appears not to be true.
Joe Esler, at the SANS Internet Storm Center, has a short but informative post on the reality behind the WSJ story. Bruce Schneier, one of the heavy-hitters in the security community, doesn’t think much of the story, either.
Bottom line: Some of the concerns raised in the WSJ article are significant issues but, other than the somewhat breathless tone, there’s nothing new here and some of the reporting is technically suspect.