China's Cyber-Militia: Who is Tim Bennett?

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

Is Mr. Bennett proposing that electrical utilities spend more money on
cyber-security and less money on routine maintenance?  Certainly "Chinese
Cyber-Militia" is much more sexy than "overgrown trees"....

 

Richard

 

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cs_20080531_6948.php

China's Cyber-Militia

Chinese hackers pose a clear and present danger to U.S. government and
private-sector computer networks and may be responsible for two major U.S.
power blackouts.

by Shane Harris

Sat. May 31, 2008

Computer hackers in China, including those working on behalf of the Chinese
government and military, have penetrated deeply into the information systems
of U.S. companies and government agencies, stolen proprietary information
from American executives in advance of their business meetings in China,
and, in a few cases, gained access to electric power plants in the United
States, possibly triggering two recent and widespread blackouts in Florida
and the Northeast, according to U.S. government officials and
computer-security experts.

One prominent expert told National Journal he believes that China's People's
Liberation Army played a role in the power outages. Tim Bennett, the former
president of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a leading trade group,
said that U.S. intelligence officials have told him that the PLA in 2003
gained access to a network that controlled electric power systems serving
the northeastern United States. The intelligence officials said that
forensic analysis had confirmed the source, Bennett said. "They said that,
with confidence, it had been traced back to the PLA." These officials
believe that the intrusion may have precipitated the largest blackout in
North American history, which occurred in August of that year. A
9,300-square-mile area, touching Michigan, Ohio, New York, and parts of
Canada, lost power; an estimated 50 million people were affected.

Officially, the blackout was attributed to a variety of factors, none of
which involved foreign intervention. Investigators blamed "overgrown trees"
that came into contact with strained high-voltage lines near facilities in
Ohio owned by FirstEnergy Corp. More than 100 power plants were shut down
during the cascading failure. A computer virus, then in wide circulation,
disrupted the communications lines that utility companies use to manage the
power grid, and this exacerbated the problem. The blackout prompted
President Bush to address the nation the day it happened. Power was mostly
restored within 24 hours.

There has never been an official U.S. government assertion of Chinese
involvement in the outage, but intelligence and other government officials
contacted for this story did not explicitly rule out a Chinese role. One
security analyst in the private sector with close ties to the intelligence
community said that some senior intelligence officials believe that China
played a role in the 2003 .

 

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