Anyone read the "Electric Grid Vulnerability" report?

[USMC0331]

By: Congressmen Edward J. Markley (D-MA) and Henery A. Waxman (D-CA) May 21, 2013
http://dvcprep.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/report-electric-grid-vulnerability-2013-5-21.pdf

If anyone has solid info concerning the grids condition that is not from reputable sources, I would appreciate a link.  I'm trying to build a picture of how serious the situation is.  After 8 hours of research I'm not getting a warm fuzzy. 

My take on the matter...
http://dvcprepper.com/2013/09/04/electric-grid-vulnerability-industry-responses-reveal-security-gaps/

[JohnyMac]

GREAT find DVC!

Make sure you click on DVC's report it is AWESOME!

Like anything the government does this is a 35 page report BUT it is well worth you reading it. Here is a tease....

1.
The electric grid is the target of numerous and daily cyber -attacks.

> More than a dozen utilities reported ?daily,? ?constant,? or ?frequent? attempted cyber-attacks ranging from phishing to malware infection to unfriendly probes. One utility reported that it was the target of approximately 10,000 attempted
cyber - attacks each month.

> More than one public power provider reported being under a ?constant state of ?attack? from malware and entities seeking to gain access to internal systems.?

>A Northeastern power provider said that it was ?under constant cyber attack from cyber criminals including malware and the general threat from the Internet ...?

> A Midwestern power provider said that it was ?subject to ongoing malicious cyber and physical activity. For example, we see probes on our network to look for vulnerabilities in our systems and applications on a daily basis. Much of this
activity is automated and dynamic in nature ? able to adapt to what is discovered during its probing process.?

2.
Most utilities only comply with mandatory cyber - security standards, and have not implemented voluntary NERC recommendations.

> Almost all utilities cited compliance with mandatory NERC standards. Of those that responded to a question of h
ow many voluntary cyber - security measures recommended by NERC had been implemented, most indicated that they had not implemented any of these measures.

> For example, NERC has established both mandatory standards and voluntary measures to protect against the
computer worm known as Stuxnet. Of those that responded, 91% of IOUs, 83% of municipally - or cooperatively -
owned utilities, and 80% of federal entities that own major pieces of the bulk power system reported compliance
with the Stuxnet mandatory standard s. By contrast, of those that responded to a separate question regarding compliance with voluntary Stuxnet measures, only 21% of IOUs, 44% of municipally - or cooperatively - owned utilities, and 62.5% of federal entities reported compliance.

3.
Most utilities have not taken concrete steps to reduce the vulnerability of the grid to geomagnetic storms and it is unclear whether the number of available spare transformers is adequate

> Only 12 of 36 (33%) responding IOUs, 5 of 25 (20%) responding municipally - or coo peratively - owned utilities, and 2 of 8 (25%) responding federal entities stated that they have taken specific mitigation measures to protect against or respond to geomagnetic storms.

>Most utilities do not own spare transformers. Only twenty IOUs, six municipally - or cooperatively - owned utilities, and
eight federal entities reported owning spare transformers. While other utilities reported participation in various mutual
assistance agreements or industry equipment sharing programs, none knew how many other utilities would claim contractual access to the same equipment in the event of a large - scale outage.

Sorry for the poor copy and paste.

[Well-Prepared Witch]

Wow!  I had no idea there were so many cyber attacks on power grids currently.  This is some great info - thanks for posting it DVC and for your synopsis!  Same to the points you pull out JohnnyMac.

[USMC0331]

Did anyone hear about that report on national Media? I didn't think so

[Alex1992]

Man it wakes you up when you know our country is vulnerable but this one this is different. It's scary when you read this and how easy it would be to bring down electricity 

[USMC0331]

The worst part is that NOTHING is being done about it.  I'm guessing the POWER companies have enough pull that no legislation would make through, but this truly is a national Security issue that needs addressing.  Of course with the coming collapse it might be a mute point.  Look at what happened to Argentina's utilities and that was small potatoes to what is coming to us.

[APX808]

Hey guys, have you seen this?

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/08/28/power-grid-down-drill-to-be-conducted-by-us-government/

@DVC, what do you mean with Argentina's utilities?

[JohnyMac]

Interesting 

[USMC0331]

@ APX
I'm referring to the sell off of America to its investors when the nation is broke because the world will no longer allow us to peg the dollar to the world currency.

That's was the Argentine model that I believe the IMF used as a trial run.

http://youtu.be/VK494Judxvg