03.17.13
Cyberwar shoeshine video
A particularly over-the-top example, distributed everywhere by Reuters.
This “news” video creates the impression, one reinforced by its unnamed talking heads, that a cyberattack on America’s power grid would be more devastating than the worst natural catastrophe. The attack would be untraceable, would take a second and would burn out tens of thousands of transformers around the country, it is alleged. It would take months, perhaps years, to recover from it.
American civilization crippled in a second, delivered in a “news” video about two and a half minutes long.
The Reuters reporter cites as a National Academy of Science report on the power grid to bolster its case. It seems reasonable to viewers but is a case of utter mendacity, if you actually read the report.
DD blog covered it here.
And the report was pointed to by by Steven Aftergood of the Secrecy blog here.
At the time, I wrote:
In the aftermath of the Sandy natural disaster, it has again been made obvious to some that the electrical grid can be damaged. And that electrical power, if it is disrupted for a long enough period of time, can result in death or the serious damage to the health of citizens in our modern world, particularly if they are old, sick and dependent on technological services.
For example, from the opening pages of the report:
“If such large [theoretically terrorism-caused] outages were to occur during times of extreme weather, they could also result in hundreds or even thousands of deaths due to heat stress or extended exposure to extreme cold.???
One of the recurring memes of the Cult of Cyberwar is the insistence that the electrical grid can be disrupted with little effort by cyberattack on the infrastructure.This pernicious meme has created the impression that catastrophically turning off the electricity in parts or all of the United States can be done by many, simply by pushing software buttons from the internet.
The NAS report has this to say on “cyber vulnerability:???
If they could gain access, hackers could manipulate SCADA systems to disrupt the flow of electricity, transmit erroneous signals to operators, block the flow of vital information, or disable protective systems. Cyber attacks are unlikely to cause extended outages, but if well coordinated they could magnify the damage of a physical attack. For example, a cascading outage would be aggravated if operators did not get the information to learn that it had started, or if protective devices were disabled.
That’s about it, essentially.
The report describes the biggest hazard to the electrical grid as physical, not digital.
Physical attacks by terrorists, which are deemed not likely but possible, could — for example — destroy critical high voltage transformers. (The physical failure of such a transformer serving New York City, by Sandy and rising water levels, was recently and repeatedly on television and preserved on YouTube.)
“Although major terrorist organizations have not attacked the US power system, such terrorist attacks have occurred elsewhere in the world,??? reads the report. “Simply turning off the power typically does not terrorize people. However, the United States should not ignore that possibility of an attack that turns off the power before staging a large conventional terrorist event, thus amplifying the latter’s consequences.???
And there you have one clear cut example of outright lying in a news piece, an exercise in which a National Academy of Science report is used to buttress an extravagant claim when the actual report did nothing of the kind. The report was about the potential consequences of grid failure, largely as the result of either natural disaster or potential terrorist plots that successfully destroy large components of infrastructure, both in the physical, not digital, realm.
Readers please take note: Who are the two unnamed talking heads in this video? DD blog wants to know.