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Senator demands report on power-grid hack
By Reuters
June 23, 2001, 6:10 a.m. PT
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6359207.html?tag=prntfr
A California state lawmaker on Friday asked the agency managing the state's power grid
to detail the steps it has taken to prevent its computer network from being hacked
again, after an earlier breach that is being investigated by the FBI.
Sen. Tom McClintock, a Republican from the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks, asked
the California Independent System Operator (ISO) to deliver to him within a few days a
report detailing how and why the recent hack had happened and what the ISO is doing to
prevent future attacks.
McClintock, who has warned that hacker attacks on the California grid have potential
to paralyze the state, met with staff members of the ISO for an hour and a half
Friday, at his request.
The FBI is investigating the hack, which happened sometime between April 25 and May
11, but was not disclosed until about a month later, the ISO has said.
After the Los Angeles Times reported on the hack citing an internal ISO report, the
agency, which oversees most of the state's power and the second-largest electricity
grid in the nation, confirmed that its system had been penetrated but said no critical
operations were at risk.
ISO staffers reassured McClintock on Friday that the incident was a relatively minor
attack on a computer set up for testing software and connected to the Internet, said
ISO spokesman Gregg Fishman.
The attack took place during a time when parts of the state fell to rolling blackouts
and around the time of escalated tensions between the United States and China after a
U.S. Navy surveillance plane collided with a Chinese jet fighter.
Although the attack appeared to come from somewhere in China, ISO staff said they are
not sure the hack originated there because it is so easy for a hacker to hide tracks
online.
"The principal concern, obviously, is national security issues," said McClintock.
Story Copyright © 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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