Video shows mock attack on US electrical grid

A GOVERNMENT VIDEO obtained by the Associated Press dramatises the potential impact of a successful hacker attack on a US electrical power station, MSNBC reports.

The video was produced for the US Department of Homeland Security by the Idaho National Laboratory, which is better known for testing experimental nuclear reactor designs. It portrays that computer commands entered by hypothetical hackers could send a power generating turbine spinning wildly out of control and flying apart as a smoking wreck.

The scenario was part of a demonstration called the "Aurora Generator Test" conducted in March by researchers investigating vulnerabilities in the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that run all public utilities and many manufacturing plants.

The AP story says a security flaw in SCADA systems was quietly fixed and electric utilities have been urged to implement patches. But a representative of the electric power industry bristled at the government portrayal. Stan Johnson, a manager with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation that oversees the US electrical power grid, said "The video is not a realistic representation of how the power system would operate."

The electric power industry is very slow to make changes to its systems and is still working on internal assessments and plans. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposed a set of standards last July that would require power grid operators and users to establish plans and controls. µ