Gary Allison's Leadership Blog

Tech News12 Apr 2009 09:09 pm

Were you worried about the April 1 Conficker worm a few weeks ago? While this virus got plenty of media attention, an attack by cyber terrorists might be much more effective on phone, internet, banking, and maybe even our electric grid with the cut of a few fiber optic cables. The prototype of such an attack may have taken place last Thursday in the SF Bay Area as ten fiber optic cables were cut in 4 places around 4:00 AM.

This could have been a probe of our defenses (non-existent) or perhaps a labor protest by CWA union members who have voted to strike (which they deny).  Either way, Dvorak has it right when he calls into question Obama’s proposal of a “Smart Grid” controlling the nation’s electric distribution.  Terriorist, disgruntled union workers, or otherwise, one thing is certian: these criminals knew exactly what they were doing, exactly what manholes to climb down, and exactly what cables to cut.

One Response to “A more direct approach cyber attack”

  1. on 10 Jun 2009 at 10:32 am Tina Benitez

    As John Dvorak said: He said even if they where ‘testing the grid for either redundancy or failur points…’ or for just plain being bullies, this is pretty spooky stuff.

    I live in a bubble if I don’t believe we are vunerable to 1/2 the country going down, through random acts such as this.

    Energy and tremendous thought must go into the alternative of a safety backup system. Easier said than done.