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Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master
NRT-0138 California Electricity Market Computers Attacked:
Disrupted California state power grid officials said that the FBI is close to arresting a person suspected of shutting down the computer systems that run the electricity markets and making a threat that forced the evacuation of the agency's Sacramento-area building. A spokesman for the Independent System Operator (ISO), which oversees electricity purchases and distribution, said the incidents did not endanger the grid or caus any power failures.
Gregg Fishman of the ISO said that sometime Sunday night (15APR) the computer systems that run the state's power markets were shut down. Officials responded to the problem within 30 minutes, but the systems were not back up and running until about 0600 on Monday.
At about noon Monday, Fishman said the ISO received an email threat to the agency's building in Folsom, causing the building to be evacuated. Authorities searched the building but found no potential problems and allowed employees back in at about 1730. Fishman said the two incidents were related and the FBI had a suspect, but he declined to give any further information about the suspect.
The computers that run the grid were not threatened, and the ISO transferred operations to its Southern California headquarters when employees were forced to leave their Folsom building. Fishman declined to elaborate on whether the computer systems that had been tampered with were hacked from the outside or damaged from within the building. He said consumers were not affected by the temporary shutdown of the markets. The ISO was reviewing all security procedures in light of the incidents, Fishman said.
(www.sfgate.com 18APR07)
Last Modified: Sunday, 29-Apr-2007 14:21:02 EDT