Power Grid Hacker Gets More Jailtime

from the you-can-hack-the-power-grid? dept

For years, we've been hearing that the power grid isn't connected to the internet, and that it's unlikely to be attacked by computer problems. However, today comes the news that a guy, known as "Dr. Chaos" (very creative) who was already in prison for "storing cyanide near a Chicago subway," has had seven more years tacked onto his sentence for "hacking into computers and causing power failures in northeastern Wisconsin." That's about as far as the details go, so it's unclear exactly what happened. Were those two separate things? Did he hack into computer systems and cause power failures separately? Or did he hack into computer systems to cause power failures? If it's the latter, then it might be worthwhile to know just how easy it is to hack into our power grid to cause failures. Update: According to someone at the Associated Press it was two separate things. He hacked into computers (stop) and caused power failures as two separate actions.
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  • identicon
    MissingFrame, 1 Dec 2005 @ 10:14am

    Doctor?

    Either he's got a book deal in the works, or the holes in the system still exist! BTW, does the Realm of Chaos actually have a PhD program, and is it accredited?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Sohrab, 1 Dec 2005 @ 12:18pm

    No Subject Given

    when I was visiting, in the booklets they handed out, I believe they said accredited.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      dan, 1 Dec 2005 @ 1:20pm

      Re: No Subject Given

      Dining services suck and there the female male ratios is like 4:1.

      There are a lot of bars on campus though.

      //Just finished my BS in Applied Evil.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    haggie, 1 Dec 2005 @ 3:53pm

    No Subject Given

    Northeast Wisconsin has elecricity? I don't believe it. Next you'll be saying that Wisconsin homes have indoor plumbing and flush toilets!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Myself, 1 Dec 2005 @ 6:04pm

    It's possible, but..

    Remember they wouldn't let Mitnick use phones in prison because he could "whistle launch codes" to missiles. I'm not making this up, that's actually the reason given!

    Just keep in mind that law school doesn't have any comp sci requirements. Consider that the people involved in writing the documents, filing the charges, and preparing the news article, all of them probably have the same average computer skill as your uncle.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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