Hackers threaten power network

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=636486

30 Sep, 2003

Norway's power grid is subject to aggressive hacking every day, 
carried out by computer terrorists apparently intent on cutting 
electricity to wide areas of the country. Agencies in charge of power 
production and the network have so far managed to thwart their 
efforts.

Employees at Statkraft, Norway's largest power producer, are being 
forced to use tremendous resources to maintain the so-called "fire 
walls" in its computer system. If they fail, Norway may be subject to 
the same kind of massive power failures that recently hit Italy, 
eastern Canada and the US.

"We have daily visits from trespassers who try to break into our 
system," Tor Inge Akselsen of Statnett told newspaper Aftenposten 
Tuesday. Statnett is in charge of Norway's power network.

Neither Statkraft nor Statnett know who they're up against, only that 
it's critically important to keep their systems secure.

A massive power failure in Oslo would halt all trains and trams and 
disrupt everything from mobile phone traffic to street lights. Back-up 
generators in key areas, however, would provide power to government 
offices, hospitals, broadcast outlets and the main airport at 
Gardermoen.



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