Report reveals play-by-play of first U.S. grid cyberattack

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.eenews.net/stories/1061111289

By Blake Sobczak
E&E News reporter
Energywire
September 6, 2019

A first-of-its-kind cyberattack on the U.S. grid created blind spots at a grid 
control center and several small power generation sites in the western United 
States, according to a document posted yesterday from the North American 
Electric Reliability Corp.

The unprecedented cyber disruption this spring did not cause any blackouts, and 
none of the signal outages at the "low-impact" control center lasted for longer 
than five minutes, NERC said in the "Lesson Learned" document posted to the 
grid regulator's website.

But the March 5 event was significant enough to spur the victim utility to 
report it to the Department of Energy, marking the first disruptive "cyber 
event" on record for the U.S. power grid (Energywire, April 30).

The case offered a stark demonstration of the risks U.S. power utilities face 
as their critical control networks grow more digitized and interconnected — and 
more exposed to hackers. "Have as few internet facing devices as possible," 
NERC urged in its report.

[...]

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