Computer-based Attacks Could Lead to Physical Devastation, General SaysSeptember 16, 2011
The highest officer of the U.S. Cyber Command painted a bleak picture of the havoc that future computer-based attacks will wreak, including massive power outages and malfunctioning machines that could kill hundreds, according to an article in the Washington Times. According to Army Gen. Keith Alexander, that picture doesn't even include the mounting loss of private data and intellectual property to computer criminals and spies that could be the largest theft in history, the article notes. "That’s our concern about what’s coming in cyberspace — a destructive element,” Gen. Alexander said in a speech at a conference on cyber warfare. He cited two events that — while not caused by a cyber attack — illustrate how devastating an attack on the national infrastructure could be. First, he described the August 2003 electrical power outage that rippled across the Northeast United States after a tree damaged two high-voltage power lines. The software overseeing the power-grid improperly entered a "pause" mode and shut down power across several states, according to the article. He said that a targeted attack on the network controlling the electrical grid could lead to worse repercussions. The other case he cited was the devastating malfunction of a Russian 650-megawatt hydro-turbine generator that weighs 1,000 tons. While it was being serviced, it was remotely restarted accidentally. The machine spun out of control and exploded, resulting in 75 deaths. Gen. Alexander reiterated that the U.S. now plans to respond to computer-based attacks as it would to any other attacks. The Pentagon's strategy was announced last summer, and it states that the Pentagon will treat those attacks just as if they were an attack by sea, air, land or space. Analysts point out that a potential problem, however, is that the origin of a cyber-attack can be masked. |
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