NEW YORK, March 4 (UPI) -- Electrical transformers are
the Achilles heel of the U.S. power grid, experts say, because of the threat of
physical as well as cyberattacks.
The transformers, the largest of which
can cost $1 million to $8 million, are key to moving electricity from
power-generating plants to consumers across the country, but could be rendered
useless by through relatively low-tech attacks, the Wall Street Journal
reported Monday.
"We've always known that with a
couple dollar bullets, you can take out a transformer worth millions of
dollars," Steve Newman, vice president of Delta Star Inc. of Lynchburg,
Va., told the New York business newspaper.
The Journal says it could take the
national grid months to recover from a physical attack targeting enough of the
nation's 2,000 largest transformers at key points. The newspaper notes an
attack by unknown gunmen on a California substation last April damaged 17 large
transformers, putting them out of service. With only a few U.S. companies in
the business of building transformers, the Journal says it can take weeks or
months for replacements to be shipped from overseas.
The "greatest vulnerability in
the event of a terrorist physical attack on the power system will likely be
securing needed replacements of high-voltage transformers," the National
Research Council concluded in a 2012 report compiled for the U.S. Homeland
Security Department. The resulting blackouts, the report said, "could take
weeks, months or even longer" to remedy.
The Journal says power companies are
trying to prepare for potential widespread problems by pooling spare
transformers. It says about 50 utilities have joined a program run by the
Edison Electric Institute to share an inventory of backup transformers. But
neither the institute nor another industry group, the North American Electric
Reliability Corp., will say how many pieces of the critical equipment are on
hand or exactly how useful they would be given that transformers are
custom-designed for each location.
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USA
Today Column:
How to protect our electric grid
Revelations about the cyber theft of customer data at Target and Neiman
Marcus are just the most recent reminders about the threat to the United States
of cyber attacks. But invasive and costly attacks on businesses and all of us
as customers may not even be the most worrisome threats.
Rather, cyber threats to critical infrastructure -- for example, water,
energy and telecommunications — are important to our national security. There
is evidence that energy systems, in particular, are becoming a popular target.
The Department of Homeland Security recently reported responding to 198
cyber-incidents in 2012 across all critical sectors. Forty-one percent of these
incidents involved the energy sector, particularly electricity.
Although to date there are no reports of a successful cyber attack on the
electric grid, we believe it is more a question of "when" than
"if." A targeted cyber attack — either alone or combined with a
physical attack — on the power system could lead to huge costs, with sustained
outages over large portions of the electric grid and prolonged disruptions in
communications, health care delivery and food and water supplies.
Unlike traditional threats to electric grid reliability, such as extreme
weather events, a cyber attack is less predictable in its timing and
potentially more difficult to diagnose and address. Such an attack could come
from various sources and target many potential vulnerabilities. The North
American electricity grid is sprawling, with approximately 5,800 major power
plants and more than 450,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines. And our
economy is pervasively dependent upon its functioning.
Efforts to prevent and respond to cyber attacks on the electric grid are
complicated by a complex governance structure. In addition to the countless
companies involved with pieces of the grid and actions to protect it, numerous
federal, state and local agencies are involved in some aspect of cybersecurity.
Successfully managing cybersecurity risks and recovering from a destructive
cyber attack will require effective coordination at several levels, including
U.S. energy companies, the intelligence community and emergency management
agencies; between relevant federal government and state and local authorities
involved in energy, law enforcement, essential services and other issues; and
between U.S. energy regulatory and security agencies and their counterparts in
Canada and Mexico.
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