CIA Confirms Cyber Attack Caused Multi-City Power Outage

[SeanO]

I subscribe to the SANS News Flash on network security issues and just got this...

On Wednesday, in New Orleans, US Central Intelligence Agency senior
analyst Tom Donohue told a gathering of 300 US, UK, Swedish, and Dutch
government officials and engineers and security managers from electric,
water, oil & gas and other critical industry asset owners from all
across North America, that "We have information, from multiple regions
outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed
by extortion demands. We suspect, but cannot confirm, that some of
these attackers had the benefit of inside knowledge. We have
information that cyber attacks have been used to disrupt power equipment
in several regions outside the United States. In at least one case, the
disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not
know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions
through the Internet."

According to Mr. Donohue, the CIA actively and thoroughly considered the
benefits and risks of making this information public, and came down on
the side of disclosure.

Delegates at the meeting shared information on how attackers are eluding
current defenses and on promising practices for mitigating the most
critical vulnerabilities. They also shared a jointly developed "SCADA
and Control Systems Survival Kit." Next week an electronic version of
the Survival Kit will be available (free) to all SANS alumni.

Alan