US Hackers Kill Cities Power

A US Central Intelligence Agency analyst recently revealed that cyber criminals were capable of hacking into computer systems using the Internet and severed power to numerous cities external to the US.

Sharing the information on the intricate attacks, CIA analyst Tom Donahue spoke at a conference of security professionals on Wednesday. He says that criminals have launched online attacks that have disrupted power equipment in numerous anonymous regions outside of the US with one objective in mind, extortion.

Donahue says the CIA has information from multiple regions of cyber intrusions into utilities by hacking into their power grids, followed by extortion demands, in a statement posted to the Web by the conference organizers, the SANS Institute. While the agency meticulously considered the benefits and risks of making this information public, it decided on the side of disclosure, says Donahue.

According to reports, cyber intrusions made front-page headlines in September 2007 when CNN broadcast a video presenting an Idaho National Laboratory demonstration of a software assault on the computer system used to control a power generator, which was rendered inoperable.

The US says it is presently taking steps to secure the computers that control its power systems.