Disgruntled techie attempts Californian power blackout

[<rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.theregister.com/2007/04/20/terrorists_among_us_flee_flee/

Disgruntled techie attempts Californian power blackout
Counter-terror feds swoop after data centre sabotage
By Lewis Page 
Published Friday 20th April 2007 14:12 GMT

A cheesed-off American IT worker was seized by an FBI Joint Terrorism Task
Force on Wednesday for attacking the Californian electric power grid.
Lonnie Charles Denison, of Sacramento, allegedly meddled with computers at
the California Independent System Operator (ISO) agency. He is also accused
of making a malicious bomb threat against the organisation. ISO controls the
state's power transmission lines and runs its energy trading markets.

According to the feds, Denison became upset last week after a dispute with
his employer, Science Applications International. Science Applications
provides IT services to ISO.

Denison first attempted a remote attack against the ISO data centre on
Sunday, but this was unsuccessful. He then reverted to simpler means, and
entered the facility physically using his security card key late on Sunday
night. Once inside, he smashed the glass plate covering an emergency power
cut-off, shutting down much of the data centre through the early hours of
Monday morning. This denied ISO access to the energy trading market, but
didn't affect the transmission grid directly. Nor did his emailed bomb
threat, delivered later on Monday, though it did lead to the ISO offices
being evacuated and control passed to a different facility.

However, the feds reckon that if Denison had carried out his data-centre
attack during normal business hours, "electric consumers in the Western
United States would have experienced disruptions in their electrical
supply". After arresting Denison they slapped him with a felony rap,
destruction of an energy facility. The disgruntled techie, if found guilty,
could be looking at the wrong end of a maximum five-year stretch, or perhaps
a $5,000 fine.
This case could be another sign that America's terrorist threats can come
from within as well as from beyond its borders. Denison is the second
American IT worker to appear before federal beaks in recent days for
sabotaging key US computers, joining Richard F Sylvestre.

Sylvestre's vandalism could have resulted in a nuclear-submarine collision
and landed him in the jug for a decade, but in the end he got sent away for
just 12 to 18 months. Denison could get off relatively lightly too, if he
receives similar treatment.



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