The Core
Why We Are Here => Water Cooler => Topic started by: rcjordan on December 21, 2015, 02:37:13 PM
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http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2015/AP-Investigation-US-power-grid-vulnerable-to-foreign-hacks-public-often-kept-in-the-dark/id-c8d531ec05e0403a90e9d3ec0b8f83c2
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Dec 23 2015 > Ukraine:
First known hacker-caused power outage
http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/01/first-known-hacker-caused-power-outage-signals-troubling-escalation/
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As this kind of news spreads, I wonder if there will be an increased demand for solar panels...
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>solar
As we urbanize, I wonder what percentage of the 1st-world population could install alternate power? 20th floor in Brooklyn? Nope.
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http://www.verticalfarm.com/
But then again...
http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/12/13/vertical-farming/
But then again again...
http://panacea-bocaf.org/verticalfarming.htm
(frankly, I know nothing about this, I just always see it in Pop Sci style mags and these were the first three links I found)
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Reliability of the grid will also effect adoption of residential solar in the 1st world. If I start getting frequent blackouts or brownouts due to hackers or aging infrastructure I'm going to be looking at solar systems to smooth those out. A decentralized grid might make a lot of sense under those circumstances.
Moving away from coal fired power plants is another factor. My whole state is mostly powered by coal and I haven't the slightest idea what those plants will be or can be replaced with.
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>20th floor in Brooklyn
They're working on the office building window solution now.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/188667-a-fully-transparent-solar-cell-that-could-make-every-window-and-screen-a-power-source
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>solar
Make a list of what you REALLY NEED electric power for:
Maybe communication...
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>list
This will slip into a prepper discussion pretty quickly. And it depends on where you live ...but no matter where you live, water-pumping will be high -probably tops- on the list after 2 or 3 days.
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water-pumping
Definitely! Living in a rural place where electricity isn't redundant, we have our fair share of longer term power outages. For short term outages, it'd be nice to have lights, but that's an easy fix. For the longer term, water (even if we have to filter it ourselves) and a septic system start becoming pretty urgent needs. And refrigeration. It's not that easy for us to make a run on the local canned food section.
Communication would be a harder thing to be self-sufficient on in the case of a broad electrical outage. We have a fully corded phone in a drawer that only needs a phone line to work. That's also come in handy.
office building window solution
Very cool.
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When the grid goes, there won't BE a canned food section after a few days.
>refrigeration
Now we're talking high current draw for most people ...though there are LP (natural?) gas refrigerators.
Again, we're talking almost exclusively about people living in independent dwellings. Urban, high-density dwellers are screwed.
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>hack
If I wanted to maximize the hit for many US urban areas, I'd probably wait until July-August
Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_European_heat_wave
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> water-pumping
or desalination, eh RC?
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>refrigeration
http://www.amazon.com/Norcold-323TR-Refrigerator-3-Way-Right/dp/B0002F684A/ref=sr_1_5?s=appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1452184727&sr=1-5&keywords=lp+refrigerator
>Urban
Those MFs are f###ed
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>Norcold
I have one in the motorhome. They are fire hazards (mine has an aftermarket halon extinguisher), but if I have to use it for a prolonged period after a hurricane nukes our infrastructure, it might come in handy.
>f###ed
Yup. We can talk about future-ish tech saving their collective asses, but the reality is that the mortality rate in urban areas is going to be high.
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>there won't BE a canned food section after a few days
Grim.
So, the next logical question, how long do you think it would realistically take for someone to restore the power after an attack?
It sounds like the cited example was resolved in just a few hours. Certainly it has the potential to be more complex, but a squirrel with the munchies can kill our power for longer than that.
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>Grim
My specialty.
>how long
I'm going to guess that instead of a cascading failure like the northeast blackouts they'd make transformer damage the priority, much like the stuxnet did with Iran's centrifuges. I'm also guessing that they'll hit the grid while it's under extreme load; August or maybe in conjunction with a big solar flare in order to maximize the damage. Just tripping some circuit breakers as in 2003 won't keep the power out for extended periods unless the vulnerability is a gaping one that can't be patched or circumvented quickly. In that case, they could mount what would essentially be a ddos attack, knocking it out every time it's rebooted.
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[update]
Presidential Executive Order on Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure
(e) Assessment of Electricity Disruption Incident Response Capabilities. The Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, with State, local, tribal, and territorial governments, and with others as appropriate, shall jointly assess:
(i) the potential scope and duration of a prolonged power outage associated with a significant cyber incident, as defined in Presidential Policy Directive 41 of July 26, 2016 (United States Cyber Incident Coordination), against the United States electric subsector;
(ii) the readiness of the United States to manage the consequences of such an incident; and
(iii) any gaps or shortcomings in assets or capabilities required to mitigate the consequences of such an incident.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/11/presidential-executive-order-strengthening-cybersecurity-federal
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Trump Orders Preparation for Electric Grid Cyber Attacks
Policy upgrade comes as threats to infrastructure increase
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/trump-orders-preparation-electric-grid-cyber-attacks/