Cyber Security Experts Warn that the U.S. power grid is Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks
Top cyber security experts echoed a dire warning from a top intelligence chief on the vulnerability of the U.S. power grid, with one telling Fox News that state-sponsored hackers could send America’s nerve centers on an “uncontrollable, downward spiral.”
“China has, for years, participated in massive electronic probing of networks in the U.S.,” Ingram said. “The ability to conduct these network scans is not new, the sophistication of the newer methodologies is growing exponentially and our defenses, from the little made public or known to those in the industry, has not kept pace.”
There is a "huge risk" that America's own power utilities could be turned into a weapon used against U.S. citizens and controlled from another land, said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute.
“We could lose the ability to control our power systems," said Ponemon, whose organization is based in Traverse City, Mich. "If this happens with a nuclear power facility, the attack could cause a melt down or explosions, cause considerable damage for people at or near the plant, and put it out of commission for many, many months.”
For now, the best protection the U.S. has is its economic ties to China - and the fact that America could answer an attack with one of its own - the strategy known in the Cold War as "mutually assured destruction."
If and when committed enemies of the U.S. gain the ability to strike, America's dependence on its power grid could prove to be a fatal weakness.