Lee Ferran and Jason Ryan of ABC News, in an article dated August 4, 2010, report that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as former CIA Director John Woosley, have identified weaknesses in the nation's critical infrastructure systems as among the greatest threats to national security.
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"'One of [the greatest threats] is the vulnerability of our electricity grid to hacking . . . [w]e have 18 critical infrastructures in the United States: water, food sewage, etc. All of the 17 others depend on the electrical grid.'"
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Indeed, the DHS has confirmed that during the month of July, "hackers targeted critical infrastructure systems with malicious computer code." While an attack on the "front office" of a control plant or power plant is nothing new, "[e]xperts said it was the first time [the hacker(s)] employed a certain type of 'worm,' called Stuxnet, [which] was created to seize complete control of a specific critical infrastructure location." This attack was an attempt – apparently the first of its kind – to "'access[] control networks . . . [which] are those networks that actually perform physical functions, whether its building automobiles, generating power or purify[ing] water.'" Interestingly, these more complex and brazen attacks are more likely to aid investigators and response teams in determining attribution.
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"'Often these malicious attackers will leave footprints behind by which we are able to identify the activity, because this code is very complex and they've used multiple layers of encryption.'"
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Although the most recent attacks have originated from abroad, the DHS has confirmed that it has "deployed Cyber Emergency Response Teams more than a dozen times to help wage the digital war in the U.S." According to the Associated Press, "[t]he teams have conducted 50 assessments and helped investigate 13 cyber security incidents so far."
Greg Garcia, former DHS Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Communications was quoted in the article as saying "'We depend on information technology for seemingly everything. Like managing food processing, water purification, electricity generation . . . online banking . . . [and] dispatching emergency services. So protecting cyberspace in my view is as important to our national interests as protecting our land and our sea borders.'"
The full text of the ABC News article can be found at the link above, or here. The DHS's National Infrastructure Protection Plan, referenced in the article, can be found here. Lastly, the DHS's Cyber Emergency Response Teams' dedicated page can be found at the link above, or here.
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