lpq's Journal: Cyberspies hack into USA electric et al. Grids

The Wall Street Journal published an article this morning that says remote-controlled software was found in electric-grid systems to allow future disruption of the grid.

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.

Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies.

There are claims that Chinese or Russian hackers are behind the break-ins. Officials from both governments deny knowing of any involvement. Both statements could be true. The hacks could have come from Chinese or Russian hackers not working under their government's direction.

I didn't know so many of those control systems were "online" and accessible through the internet. I thought they were deliberately kept off the internet to prevent exactly this type of problem. It seems I was giving utilities more credit than was due. Talk about being "caught with your pants down".

I'm wondering how much of this is reactionary hype (the only source is the WSJ). If hackers had broken into multiple utility control computers, does anyone think it likely that NONE of them would have exercised or tried the control to see if they actually could control or shut down a system? They have done so in other countries, but have not heard of such here, so I'm wondering how much real danger was actually found vs. evidence of attempts to hack in and gain control. Unfortunately, the WSJ isn't likely to be a level-story source for something like this. Making the attempted break-ins sound more "alarming" would be in the Journal's interests (journalistically and politically).