Security News > 2009 > May > Lawmakers Seek to Tighten Cyber Regulation on Power Grids

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/29/AR2009042902953.html By Brian Krebs washingtonpost.com Staff Writer April 29, 2009 Key lawmakers in the House and Senate are seeking to grant federal regulators new powers to protect the U.S. power grid in the face of an imminent or actual cyber attack on the nation's electric infrastructure. The proposal would grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authority to require companies that own and operate critical portions of the power grid to take emergency actions to mitigate a specific cyber threat against power generation equipment or the communications networks that support those systems. With the exception of publicly owned utilities, industry compliance with warnings or advisories issued by FERC currently is voluntary. "Any failure of our electric grid, whether intentional or unintentional, would have a significant and potentially devastating impact on our nation," said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is expected to introduce the measure Thursday along with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). "We must ensure that the proper protections, resources and regulatory authorities are in place to address any threat aimed at our power system." The vulnerability of the nation's electrical grid to computer attack has grown as power companies have transferred control of their electrical generation and distribution equipment from private, internal networks to supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, systems that can be accessed through the Internet or by phone lines, according to consultants and government reports. That technology has led to greater efficiency because it allows workers to operate equipment remotely. [...] -- LayerOne 2009, Information Security for the discerning professional. May 23-24 2009 @ The Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, California Visit http://layerone.info for more information

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/29/AR2009042902953.html