Skip to main content

Internet worms and critical infrastructure | CNET News.com

Internet worms and critical infrastructure | CNET News.com: "Did MSBlast cause the Aug. 14 blackout? The official analysis says 'no,' but I'm not so sure. A November interim report a panel of government and industry officials issued concluded that the blackout was caused by a series of failures with the chain of events starting at FirstEnergy, a power company in Ohio. A series of human and computer failures then turned a small problem into a major one. And because critical alarm systems failed, workers at FirstEnergy did not stop the cascade, because they did not know what was happening.

This is where I think MSBlast, also known as Blaster, may have been involved.

The report gives a specific timeline for the failures. At 2:14 p.m. EDT, the 'alarm and logging software' at FirstEnergy's control room failed. This alarm software 'provided audible and visual indications when a significant piece of equipment changed from an acceptable to problematic condition.' Of course, no one knew that it failed.

Six minutes later, 'several' remote control consoles failed. At 2:41 p.m., the primary server computer that hosted the alarm function failed. Its functions were passed to a backup computer, which failed at 2:54 p.m.

Doesn't this sound like a computer worm wending its way through FirstEnergy's operational computers?

The report had the following: 'For over an hour no one in FE's control room grasped that their computer systems were not operating properly, even though FE's Information Technology support staff knew of the problems and was working to solve them.'

Doesn't this sound like IT working to clean a worm out of its network?"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New York Post Online Edition

news : "December 29, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Startling new Army statistics show that strife-torn Baghdad - considered the most dangerous city in the world - now has a lower murder rate than New York. The newest numbers, released by the Army's 1st Infantry Division, reveal that over the past three months, murders and other crimes in Baghdad are decreasing dramatically and that in the month of October, there were fewer murders per capita there than the Big Apple, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. The Bush administration and outside experts are touting these new figures as a sign that, eight months after the fall of Saddam Hussein, major progress is starting to be made in the oft-criticized effort by the United States and coalition partners to restore order and rebuild Iraq. 'If these numbers are accurate, they show that the systems we put in place four months ago to develop a police force based on the principles of a free and democratic society are starting to
Post a Comment
Read more
Post a Comment
Read more
Forum: The fish that threatened national security : "At La Guardia we proceeded to security and the X-ray inspection point run by the Transportation Security Administration. I have learned by now that, post-9/11, a traveler is better off safe than sorry when proceeding through security. I wasn't prepared, however, for the TSA to stop me right at the entrance, proclaiming that no small pets, including fish, were permitted through security. I had, however, just received the blessing of the ticket agents at US Airways and pre-assured MJ's travels with Pittsburgh International Airport security weeks before our travel date. I tried to explain this to the screener who stood between me and the gates, but she would have none of it. I was led back to the US Airways ticket counter, stocking-footed and alone, where the agents reasserted that they did not see a problem for me to have a fish on board, properly packaged in plastic fish bag and secured with a rubber band as MJ was.
Post a Comment
Read more