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Journal Surak's Journal: Return from Blackout 2003! Plus a theory and a Mini-Poll 37

Journal by Surak

Well, I'm back online after the notorious Blackout of 2003. As a computer expert, I've been speculating on another cause of the blackout other than the 'official' stories running around. I'm not trying to sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but let's consider one possibility for a moment. When the Kevin Mitnick story was going around, there was a lot of speculation about 'hackers' (I hate that word, I prefer 'crackers' myself, but then the all the white people in Detroit go 'huh?' ;) breaking into the electric power grid.

What if it happened? What if that caused the power outage? The government says it wasn't terrorism, but they don't *know* what caused it. What about cyber terrorism? I think it was Cavuto on Fox News that paused to ask that question.

I heard not-so-widely touted reports on one news station that if it weren't for some vigilant people at the Valley Forge, PA power station that much of the entire country would have been out, at least all the way to the *Rocky Mountains*. No, I'm not making this up, this is what I heard. This story talks about the fast finger work the Valley Forge operators did to prevent their system going down, but stops just short of making the implication I laid out. But I *know* what I heard elsewhere, and it hasn't been widely touted.

The Great Blackout of 2003 comes just around the same time as LovSan. Hmmm...what if LovSan were a cover for the *real* hacking that was going on to bring the power grid down? Get the network security guys at the power companies busy locking down Windows servers while the real dirty work goes on to bring the power grid down?

Now the government, for it's part, changed its story quite a bit over the weekend. When the power went down, the media were touting a new explanation every five minutes: a solar flare? Lightning striking the Blackhawk/Niagra Falls station? Massive mechanical failure? Every theory thrown out has been tossed due to overwhelming evidence to the contrary (it was a sunny day in Niagra Falls, no mechanical failure has been found, no unusual solar activity for the day, etc.)

It's like Flight 800 all over again. And many many people STILL suspect a coverup. People who work in the aerospace biz. (I work for a company that does aerospace and automotive engineering). People who say that there was NO WAY it was a fuel tank explosion caused by an electrical fire. But I digress.

I don't know...I'll be waiting for an explanation myself, but I honestly think that there is a strong possibility that the Blackout was orchestrated. By whom? I won't speculate. But I, personally, don't think that the timing of LovSan was any coincidence.

What do you guys think? Mini poll:

A) Surak lost his mind when the power went out and he STILL doesn't have it all the way back.

B) Surak lost his mind a LOOOONG time ago.

C) Hey, maybe you're on to something here...

D) I believe everything the government tells me. Oswald shot Kennedy, that was a weather balloon in Roswell, NM, and the U.S. is perfectly safe from terrorist attacks.

E) Nah, man, the power transmission system is just friggin' ancient.

F) I have no idea.

G) Other

 

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Return from Blackout 2003! Plus a theory and a Mini-Poll More

Return from Blackout 2003! Plus a theory and a Mini-Poll

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    • These SCATA systems are connected via the Internet, some running Microsoft operating systems?

      HOLY FSCKING SH*T! What? Are they STUPID????

      "A SCATA system running a Microsoft operating system takes less than 2 minutes to bring down."

      Think about this: The first outage recorded an undervoltage at 4:09 EDT on August 14 at a GM plant in Ohio. Everything was down by 4:11. Hmmm... :)

      Not only could lovesan have been a cover, it also could have been a *delivery agent*.
      • Well, did you pay attention to the guy who was like "could Godzilla do it? If so, it can't be done by computer hackers."

        I wonder what he has to say now. And even forget about "super-hackers." All you need is a few Timothy McVeighs on the inside (with the right access levels) to run a program that simulates a huge power surge.
      • Which power grid would you like to shut down today?

        Seriously, however never assign to malice what you can assign to incompetence. The fact that they'd run critical systems with a notoriously insecure OS AND connect it to the internet is all I need to know that it was probably just sheer gross incompetance.

        Our grid is damned outdated and over capacity. There was an article on /. not too long ago about exactly that. You could in theory, still, screw up one power station and the effect would ripple across
        • Well, it's not ancient, but it's over capacity yes. It's not THAT bad. Our power grid, even with all it's faults, is still one of the best and most technologically advanced in the world.

          Yeah, I agree with you that there's a large degree of incompetence involved. Hooking *any* mission critical system to the Internet, insecure OS or not, is *stupid*. The Internet is, by nature, a completely insecure network. You never know what's knocking on those ports. This is Network Security 101, people.

          I'm a sysa
  • Heh.

    There is a lot that doesn't smell right about this, that's for sure. I really expected them to know more or less what happened by now, and it's been a series of changing stories delimited by "it's definitely not terrorism/computer hacking/bad people". If they don't know what caused it then how the hell can they say there's no evidence of terrorism? Not that I'm saying it was, but it really looks bad when they try to reassure people with bullshit.

    Lovesan and terrorism are the easy theories, but also no
    • I'm a G-voter myself. I've already JE'd about this whole thing, but here's just a couple of points:

      1) If it were terrorism, I'd bet the terrorists are mighty disappointed right now. I mean, sure, you knocked out power in a whole chunk of the country, but you've got no dead infidels to show for it! Only one person in NY died, and that was from a stair-climbing heart attack! And yeah, they had some looting in Canada, but in New York City people were actually decent to each other! What gives? Sheesh! No virgi
      • 1) If it were terrorism, I'd bet the terrorists are mighty disappointed right now. I mean, sure, you knocked out power in a whole chunk of the country, but you've got no dead infidels to show for it! Only one person in NY died, and that was from a stair-climbing heart attack! And yeah, they had some looting in Canada, but in New York City people were actually decent to each other! What gives? Sheesh! No virgins in the afterlife for these terrorists, that's for sure.

        If it were terrorism, the thing to do wo
  • The power seems fine here on the island of Texas.

    My vote would be for friggin' ancient power grid. Considering the concentration of power consumption there, it amazes me that they can keep it running normally.

  • I think that it was just an accident, with a twist. I think there is an embarrassing story about the incompetence of someone who is responsible for the operation of the plant. But the simplest explanation is probably the correct one.

    It was prolly just like that phone outage in 1991. Everyone thought it was uber-phreakers, but then realized that all of their redundant systems failed. What happened was that that the phone switches sometimes fail, but there are a lot of them, and another switch picks up t

  • BCEF (Score:2)

    by Servo ( 9177 )
    Yes, you have lost your mind, but that has no bearing on this issue. :)

    The transmission systems are ancient, so who knows. Everything is speculation, including the news, of which is no help to the truth.

  • E! (Score:1)

    by sebi ( 152185 )
    But then I was away from any reliable news source, when the whole thing went on. And I am nowhere close to America. I had to go by some vague rumours and short news bulletins on my mobile. Things break and networks fail, right? I just guess that too much is automated in the system to minimise the duration of outages. So the power plants dedicated to taking over after the first went out were not ready. Just a guess, of course, but for malicious intent the consequences of the black out simply were not severe
  • B) Surak lost his mind a LOOOONG time ago.

    But that's irrelevant for the power failure....

    I'm for an ancient / overloaded grid, but judging by Halburton in Iraq, if there is any way to angle this thing, then they will.

    If there was a terrorist threat, they'd be selling it all over the media for the ratings, real or not, so it's probably not.

    More likely there will need to be an "emergency" contract given out for a few million to repair the grid before terrorists *do* strike it. I don't go for conspiracie
  • It doesn't matter to me if it was blackhat hackers or not. The simple fact that it COULD have been hackers tells me we need to bite the bullet and overhaul the system.
  • I'm just glad you're back. I was getting worried about you, especially since you disappeared *before* the blackout.

    Now. Where's my Weekly Recap(TM), fucker?!

    ;-)

    ....Bethanie....
    • Ever the lady of gentility and breeding!
      Grin.
    • It's coming. Not until later tonight though. I've been sick since before the blackout. Turns out I've got gall bladder disease and I'm gonna need surgery. I've got all the classic symptoms: pain in the upper abdominal area, pain on my right side, pain between the shoulder blades, gas pains, intolernace to fatty foods. Plus a family history. All adds up to the fact that I'm gonna have to go under the knife and be in recovery for about 2 weeks following laproscopy surgery.

      • Oh man, that sucks. I didn't realize you were in so much pain. :-(

        And two weeks in recovery -- at home, right? They never keep ANYONE in the hospital for 2 weeks anymore. That's going to be boring.

        Sounds like you may need a sponge bath from Nurse Bethanie...

        ;-)

        ....Bethanie....
        • Hmmmm...a sponge bath? I might have to put a little fight...you might have to restrain me. ;)
          • Well, yes, you have a point.

            And we couldn't have you making a lot of noise, disturbing the other patients... we'd better gag you, too.

            Oh, yes... you'll be needing a catheter, as well...

            /me grins wickedly...

            ....Bethanie....
      • Get well!!! Tell bethanie where you're put for recovery and i'll send you get well cards and so on!!! I know what it's like, because those symptoms also appear with celiac a good deal of the time, and gall bladder disease was one of the first things they checked for. It's not going to be fun but you should be oke... *sigh* another person on my 'this person deserves a break' list gets sick.

        By the way (since this is YOUR journal, not mine, heh heh heh) i think that you're also in need of someone to feed and

  • I don't know...I'll be waiting for an explanation myself, but I honestly think that there is a strong possibility that the Blackout was orchestrated. By whom? I won't speculate. But I, personally, don't think that the timing of LovSan was any coincidence.

    What do you guys think? Mini poll:

    A) Surak lost his mind when the power went out and he STILL doesn't have it all the way back.

    B) Surak lost his mind a LOOOONG time ago.

    C) Hey, maybe you're on to something here...

    D) I believe everythin

  • I think it was Cavuto on Fox News that paused to ask that question.
    Take off the tinfoil hat, and stop watching that carp--it'll rot your brain!!!!
  • Welcome back.

    You've lost your damned mind son ;)

    But you might be on to something here.

    I say good man, enough conspiracy theory and get back to giving me my weekly dose of Surak's recap!

    Got a problem with that bub? *snckt*
  • My brother works in NYC and he was escorting scared people back to their buildings and then helping street musicians. He says that the part that made him sad- and happy- was that kids who'd lived in the city all their lives were staring up at the sky in wonder, because they'd never seen those stars before. I know what he means- when i went up to vermont i finally understood the concept of 'milky way,' and i saw my first comet; it looked as if someone had tried to erase something in the sky and left a rubbe
  • I pick Option E) Just an accident Out here in the west, we had a similar thing a few years ago. The power grid went down, causing people in 11 states, 2 provinces, and parts of Mexico to be without power. Some got their power on quickly (in my case, about 15 seconds) others took almost a full day. To us, it was just another power outage. No big deal. We didn't make breaking news on CNN, or have all the Washington politicians suddenly jump on the energy bandwagon. It was a just a rare accident.
  • Because they are, and... they are. That OK? Good. Now go back to basking in the government's victories against civil liberties- er...terrorism...yeah.

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