Devestating SCADA Attack Could Cripple USA

WASHINGTON — Attacks on US computer networks could
escalate from mere inconveniences to disasters that ruin companies or
even kill people, according to the head of a cyber-security unit working
with the government.

Scott Borg, director of the Cyber Consequences Unit, or CCU, a Department
of Homeland Security advisory group, said increasing intelligence ”chatter" was
pointing to possible criminal or terrorist schemes to destroy physical
infrastructure, such as power grids.

The CCU is considering how to prevent attacks beyond ubiquitous e-mail
hoaxes or computer viruses, with concerns rising about plots to cause power
blackouts, tamper with pharmaceutical products, or reprogram machinery
to build dangerously defective products.

Attractive targets include vital ”supervisory control
and data acquisition" systems, like those in a power plant that
open and close valves or adjust temperature and pressure.

”Chatter on SCADA attacks is increasing," Borg said, referring
to patterns of behavior his unit has observed suggesting that criminal
gangs and militant groups like al Qaeda are becoming capable of carrying
out such attacks.

Borg’s CCU, a small independent unit funded by Homeland Security, spends
its time trying to imagine how technology could be used to cripple the
United States.

Wait a sec! Isn’t CCU Jack Bauer’s outfit! With Jack
on the case we are sure this cyber-threat thing can be cleared up in
a day or two. Three at the most. Althoough everything seems to have gone
to hell since President Palmer was assassinated…..

from Reuters