Think of this the next time you start to turn on the light or crank up the laptop, or anything else for that matter:
Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.
The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven’t sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.
“The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid,” said a senior intelligence official. “So have the Russians.”
The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn’t target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. “There are intrusions, and they are growing,” the former official said, referring to electrical systems. “There were a lot last year.”
Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet
To be fair, this most likely has been going on since before Obama ever took office. Most likely the Wall Street Journal released this to remind America that we are still under threat from terrorist attack. Unlike some of my fellow Conservative blogger, I will not use this as a chance to attack The President. But rather I will hope that our President does gear up for a decent defense budget. Further more, I hope everyone up on “The Hill” will read this an realize that terrorist threats still do exist.
One thing that does bother me. This report is one of those, “New York Times” kind of reports. No direct quotes, just anonymous sources. That tends to make me disbelieve the report. How come the people providing this information, cannot just go on record. Another thing is that it the people doing this, is not Al-Qaeda, it is China and Russia. Which I highly believe will not try anything stupid. However, I believe the U.S. will be a bit less inclined to call China to the carpet on the situation of North Korea.
This will be an interesting story to follow, if there is anymore information released.