One hot day in August 2003, much of the northeastern United States and the Canadian province of Ontario suffered the biggest blackout North America has ever seen. A sudden power surge crippled hundreds of power plants.
It was a sobering lesson in the vulnerability of modern communications networks and electrical grids, which are crucial to modern life. This blackout was an accident, traced to a computer problem. But the next one might be a deliberate act by a foreign adversary.
Americans have long experience worrying about airline hijackings, truck bombs and mass shootings by terrorists. The Russian hacking of Democratic National Committee networks and use of social media to influence the 2016 presidential election is well-known. The broader danger of the power grid being sabotaged--causing our economy and society to grind to a halt--is easy to forget.
It's not just a speculative worry. It's a real-life possibility that Russian hackers have already explored--with disturbing success.
Last year, the Trump administration called out a "multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors" in which "they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks."
The hackers managed to compromise utility control rooms. Similar efforts, believed to be the work of Russians, caused a major blackout in Ukraine in 2015.
One cybersecurity firm said the attack breached systems at some two dozen utilities. But the government admits it doesn't know how many companies were penetrated. More alarming, some of the hackers may still have access to such systems, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike.
Americans are exposed to hostile hackers with alarming capabilities. There is no time to waste in building defenses to foil them.
Editorial on 01/15/2019