Control Engineering

Peter Welander

Cyber security problem? Find it, fix it!
October 22, 2007

Last week, Fox News ran a story about cyber security issues related to the power generating industry. Regardless of what you might think about Fox, it makes for interesting reading. It comes in the wake of the exploding generator story that made the rounds. (Scroll down to my posting of September 28.) Much of the story discusses who is or should be for coordinating security efforts, but there is one short quote that I found particularly disquieting. The quote is in reference to the exploding generator story: 

"But Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the subcommittee's top Republican, said the simulated attack last March was 'a good news story' because it disclosed vulnerabilities. He said changes and improvements were made to reduce the risk. 'We found it....We fixed it,' McCaul said."

Do you find that attitude disturbing? It seems to suggest that Mr. McCaul believes cyber security is something that can simply be fixed like a flat tire. It's true that you can fix a specific system vulnerability with a patch, as was probably the case in the INL exercise. (It was just an exercise, after all.) However when considering the scale of the U.S. electrical distribution grid, there are larger issues at work. I hope the article took him out of context.

Posted by Peter Welander on October 22, 2007 | Comments (0)