America's Power Grid: A Vulnerable System Exposed by Recent Events

The recent events surrounding gas stations and long lines, as well as the attack on the power grid, have exposed how vulnerable the US energy infrastructure is. The original designs of America's power grid date back to the late 1800s, with the goal of providing electricity to as many people as possible at the lowest possible cost. However, these systems were designed to meet the needs of the early 1900s and have not been updated since the 1960s.

As a result, America's power grid is unable to keep up with the demands of modern society. The average American consumes about five to six times the amount of electricity as the average person in the past. This has led to a significant increase in power outages, with the US electric grid losing power three times more often today than it did in 1984. The equipment used in these systems was designed 30, 40, and 50 years ago, and was only intended to perform specific tasks, such as running a motor or opening a valve. The concept of thinking ahead and anticipating future needs did not occur at the time.

The lack of updates to America's power grid has led to a number of vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers. Joe Weiss, managing partner of Applied Control Solutions in Cupertino, California and managing director of ISA 99, the International Society of Automation, which sets international standards on control system cyber security, has documented over 1,300 incidents of power failure in the US electrical system caused by cyber attacks. A very good example of how you can bring the grid down is the Aurora vulnerability.

In 2007, the Idaho National Laboratory ran a test called the Aurora generator test to demonstrate how a cyber attack could destroy physical components of the electric grid. The experiment used a computer program to rapidly open and close a diesel generator circuit breaker out of phase with the rest of the grid, causing it to explode. Another way hackers could penetrate America's power grid is through back doors built into the hardware that is frequently purchased by foreign manufacturers.

It can often be found in the three main grids of the United States: the Eastern Connection, the Western Connection, and ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas). In 2019, a Chinese-built transformer weighing between 250 and 500 tons was seized by the Department of Energy and Department of Homeland Security from the Port of Houston. It was taken to Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico for unspecified reasons, and it is believed that the transformer was seized because of fears of backdoor electronics which could be activated or timed by its Chinese manufacturer to change the operation and affect the US electric grid.

The only thing you could do with this electronics was either take over the control or damage or destroy that piece of equipment. This is part of the issue, as there are 200 large transformers spread throughout the country, and causing an immense amount of grief in one place can have a significant impact on the entire system. President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 13920 on May 1st, 2020, which directed utilities not to purchase bulk power systems from adversaries. This order was believed to be the result of what was found in the seized transformer.

Part of the issue is that when you have 200 large transformers spread throughout the country, you could cause an immense amount of grief. The event itself exposed vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. Joe Weiss says that cyber security is in a sense part and parcel of climate change, because as we go forward, we need remote access technology to make things more productive, but it also creates more accessibility and reliability issues.

The issue is what point and for what equipment do you not put in some of this technology if you know it can make you susceptible. Fossil fuel power plants are generally built far away from population centers, which means that the power has to be shipped long distances. A smart grid would enable a two-way flow of electricity with backup generators and energy storage systems in place that would have the ability to send power if for example the wind turbines went down.

Tesla began construction of a gigantic battery connected to the state's power grid at the Hornsdale Power Reserve, a facility that can receive and store energy from nearby wind and solar farms. The 100-megawatt battery could power about 20,000 homes on a hot summer day. Finally, investing in renewable energy sources is a better long-term investment for more sustainable and secure power grids.

However, Joe Weiss says there's a lot more work to be done to safeguard the US power grid from cyber security threats. This is a problem that's 30, 40 years in the making, and it's existential to this country, and we are not addressing what needs to be done. We can't keep ignoring it; the bad guys aren't going to stop, but if we do our job, we can prevent these types of problems from happening.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enamerica is facing a national energy crisis on may 7 2021 one of the largest refined fuel pipelines in the united states the colonial pipeline experienced a cyber attack that shut down fuel delivery between the gulf coast and the east coast the pipeline itself spans almost 5 500 miles and carries millions of gallons of fuel per day it was the target of ransomware a scheme where attackers seized control of the computer systems using code and then demand money to release the systems back to the company the fbi blamed the attack on a group called darkseid the following monday the company managed to take certain systems offline to contain the threat and plan to restore service by the end of the week the colonial pipeline is vital for several airports along the eastern seaboard of the u.s in addition to military bases throughout the southeast in the aftermath of the attack panic buying spurred by fears of fuel shortages and a rise in gas prices left several gas stations with long lines as people hoarded gasoline the attack itself exposed how vulnerable the u.s energy infrastructure is how did we get here america's power grid is based on designs from the late 1800s the goal was to provide electricity to as many people as possible at the lowest possible cost the problem is the original power grids were designed to meet the needs of the early 1900s and although there have been incremental advances these systems are outdated america's power grid hasn't been updated since the 1960s americans consume about five to six times the amount of electricity as the average person and the us electric grid loses power three times more often today than in 1984. this equipment was designed 30 40 50 years ago it was designed to do specific things you know run a motor open a valve you know run an assembly line so the concept of thinking ahead of time didn't occur this is joe weiss he's the managing partner of applied control solutions in cupertino california and the managing director of isa 99 the international society of automation that works to set international standards on control system cyber security weiss has documented over 1300 incidents of power failure in the u.s electrical system caused by cyber attacks very good example of how you can bring the grid down for months not hours or days months is a vulnerability that was called the aurora vulnerability the idaho national laboratory ran the aurora generator test in 2007 to demonstrate how a cyber attack could destroy physical components of the electric grid the experiment used a computer program to rapidly open and close a diesel generator circuit breakers out of phase from the rest of the grid and caused it to explode another way hackers could penetrate america's power grid is through back doors built into the hardware the physical equipment frequently purchased by foreign manufacturers it can often be found in the three main grids of the united states the eastern connection the western connection and ercot the electric reliability council of texas in 2019 a chinese-built transformer weighing between 250 and 500 tons was seized by the department of energy and department of homeland security from the port of houston it was taken to sandia national laboratories in albuquerque new mexico for unspecified reasons it's believed that the transformer was seized because of fears of backdoor electronics which could be activated or timed by its chinese manufacturer to change the operation and affect the us electric grid where this electronics was installed there was no data to steal the only thing you could do was to either take over the control or damage or destroy that piece of equipment on may 1st 2020 president donald trump signed executive order 13920 which directed utilities not to purchase bulk power systems from adversaries it is believed this order was the result of what was found in the seas transformer so part of the issue is when you have 200 large transformers spread throughout the country you could cause an immense amount of grief you know not just in one place how can the us make the grid more secure weatherize the power grid with cyber security in mind in february texas experienced an extreme winter storm what was once considered a rare statewide event caused energy facilities to fail and left millions of texas residents without electricity or clean running water and although what occurred in texas was not the result of any cyber attack joe weiss says the event itself exposed vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit cyber is in a sense part and parcel of climate change why because that's when you're going to need remote access technology is there to make things more productive they can't not use it it's making it productive so the the issue is and this is a real ethical question what point and for what equipment do you not put in some of this technology if you know it can make you susceptible create more accessible and reliable energy storage fossil fuel power plants are generally built far away from population centers which means that the power has to be shipped long distances a smart grid would enable a two-way flow of electricity with backup generators and energy storage systems in place that would have the ability to send power if for example the wind turbines went down in march tesla began construction of a gigantic battery connected to the state's power grid at the hornsdale power reserve a facility that can receive and store energy from nearby wind and solar farms the 100 megawatt battery could power about 20 000 homes on a hot summer day finally invest in renewable energy sources adopting renewable energy sources is a better long-term investment for more sustainable and secure power grid although these solutions are a good start to address the power grid's vulnerabilities joe weiss says there's a lot more work to be done to safeguard the us power grid from cyber security threats this is a problem that's 30 40 years in the making it's existential to this country and we are not addressing what needs to be done we can't keep ignoring it the bad guys aren't youamerica is facing a national energy crisis on may 7 2021 one of the largest refined fuel pipelines in the united states the colonial pipeline experienced a cyber attack that shut down fuel delivery between the gulf coast and the east coast the pipeline itself spans almost 5 500 miles and carries millions of gallons of fuel per day it was the target of ransomware a scheme where attackers seized control of the computer systems using code and then demand money to release the systems back to the company the fbi blamed the attack on a group called darkseid the following monday the company managed to take certain systems offline to contain the threat and plan to restore service by the end of the week the colonial pipeline is vital for several airports along the eastern seaboard of the u.s in addition to military bases throughout the southeast in the aftermath of the attack panic buying spurred by fears of fuel shortages and a rise in gas prices left several gas stations with long lines as people hoarded gasoline the attack itself exposed how vulnerable the u.s energy infrastructure is how did we get here america's power grid is based on designs from the late 1800s the goal was to provide electricity to as many people as possible at the lowest possible cost the problem is the original power grids were designed to meet the needs of the early 1900s and although there have been incremental advances these systems are outdated america's power grid hasn't been updated since the 1960s americans consume about five to six times the amount of electricity as the average person and the us electric grid loses power three times more often today than in 1984. this equipment was designed 30 40 50 years ago it was designed to do specific things you know run a motor open a valve you know run an assembly line so the concept of thinking ahead of time didn't occur this is joe weiss he's the managing partner of applied control solutions in cupertino california and the managing director of isa 99 the international society of automation that works to set international standards on control system cyber security weiss has documented over 1300 incidents of power failure in the u.s electrical system caused by cyber attacks very good example of how you can bring the grid down for months not hours or days months is a vulnerability that was called the aurora vulnerability the idaho national laboratory ran the aurora generator test in 2007 to demonstrate how a cyber attack could destroy physical components of the electric grid the experiment used a computer program to rapidly open and close a diesel generator circuit breakers out of phase from the rest of the grid and caused it to explode another way hackers could penetrate america's power grid is through back doors built into the hardware the physical equipment frequently purchased by foreign manufacturers it can often be found in the three main grids of the united states the eastern connection the western connection and ercot the electric reliability council of texas in 2019 a chinese-built transformer weighing between 250 and 500 tons was seized by the department of energy and department of homeland security from the port of houston it was taken to sandia national laboratories in albuquerque new mexico for unspecified reasons it's believed that the transformer was seized because of fears of backdoor electronics which could be activated or timed by its chinese manufacturer to change the operation and affect the us electric grid where this electronics was installed there was no data to steal the only thing you could do was to either take over the control or damage or destroy that piece of equipment on may 1st 2020 president donald trump signed executive order 13920 which directed utilities not to purchase bulk power systems from adversaries it is believed this order was the result of what was found in the seas transformer so part of the issue is when you have 200 large transformers spread throughout the country you could cause an immense amount of grief you know not just in one place how can the us make the grid more secure weatherize the power grid with cyber security in mind in february texas experienced an extreme winter storm what was once considered a rare statewide event caused energy facilities to fail and left millions of texas residents without electricity or clean running water and although what occurred in texas was not the result of any cyber attack joe weiss says the event itself exposed vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit cyber is in a sense part and parcel of climate change why because that's when you're going to need remote access technology is there to make things more productive they can't not use it it's making it productive so the the issue is and this is a real ethical question what point and for what equipment do you not put in some of this technology if you know it can make you susceptible create more accessible and reliable energy storage fossil fuel power plants are generally built far away from population centers which means that the power has to be shipped long distances a smart grid would enable a two-way flow of electricity with backup generators and energy storage systems in place that would have the ability to send power if for example the wind turbines went down in march tesla began construction of a gigantic battery connected to the state's power grid at the hornsdale power reserve a facility that can receive and store energy from nearby wind and solar farms the 100 megawatt battery could power about 20 000 homes on a hot summer day finally invest in renewable energy sources adopting renewable energy sources is a better long-term investment for more sustainable and secure power grid although these solutions are a good start to address the power grid's vulnerabilities joe weiss says there's a lot more work to be done to safeguard the us power grid from cyber security threats this is a problem that's 30 40 years in the making it's existential to this country and we are not addressing what needs to be done we can't keep ignoring it the bad guys aren't youamerica is facing a national energy crisis on may 7 2021 one of the largest refined fuel pipelines in the united states the colonial pipeline experienced a cyber attack that shut down fuel delivery between the gulf coast and the east coast the pipeline itself spans almost 5 500 miles and carries millions of gallons of fuel per day it was the target of ransomware a scheme where attackers seized control of the computer systems using code and then demand money to release the systems back to the company the fbi blamed the attack on a group called darkseid the following monday the company managed to take certain systems offline to contain the threat and plan to restore service by the end of the week the colonial pipeline is vital for several airports along the eastern seaboard of the u.s in addition to military bases throughout the southeast in the aftermath of the attack panic buying spurred by fears of fuel shortages and a rise in gas prices left several gas stations with long lines as people hoarded gasoline the attack itself exposed how vulnerable the u.s energy infrastructure is how did we get here america's power grid is based on designs from the late 1800s the goal was to provide electricity to as many people as possible at the lowest possible cost the problem is the original power grids were designed to meet the needs of the early 1900s and although there have been incremental advances these systems are outdated america's power grid hasn't been updated since the 1960s americans consume about five to six times the amount of electricity as the average person and the us electric grid loses power three times more often today than in 1984. this equipment was designed 30 40 50 years ago it was designed to do specific things you know run a motor open a valve you know run an assembly line so the concept of thinking ahead of time didn't occur this is joe weiss he's the managing partner of applied control solutions in cupertino california and the managing director of isa 99 the international society of automation that works to set international standards on control system cyber security weiss has documented over 1300 incidents of power failure in the u.s electrical system caused by cyber attacks very good example of how you can bring the grid down for months not hours or days months is a vulnerability that was called the aurora vulnerability the idaho national laboratory ran the aurora generator test in 2007 to demonstrate how a cyber attack could destroy physical components of the electric grid the experiment used a computer program to rapidly open and close a diesel generator circuit breakers out of phase from the rest of the grid and caused it to explode another way hackers could penetrate america's power grid is through back doors built into the hardware the physical equipment frequently purchased by foreign manufacturers it can often be found in the three main grids of the united states the eastern connection the western connection and ercot the electric reliability council of texas in 2019 a chinese-built transformer weighing between 250 and 500 tons was seized by the department of energy and department of homeland security from the port of houston it was taken to sandia national laboratories in albuquerque new mexico for unspecified reasons it's believed that the transformer was seized because of fears of backdoor electronics which could be activated or timed by its chinese manufacturer to change the operation and affect the us electric grid where this electronics was installed there was no data to steal the only thing you could do was to either take over the control or damage or destroy that piece of equipment on may 1st 2020 president donald trump signed executive order 13920 which directed utilities not to purchase bulk power systems from adversaries it is believed this order was the result of what was found in the seas transformer so part of the issue is when you have 200 large transformers spread throughout the country you could cause an immense amount of grief you know not just in one place how can the us make the grid more secure weatherize the power grid with cyber security in mind in february texas experienced an extreme winter storm what was once considered a rare statewide event caused energy facilities to fail and left millions of texas residents without electricity or clean running water and although what occurred in texas was not the result of any cyber attack joe weiss says the event itself exposed vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit cyber is in a sense part and parcel of climate change why because that's when you're going to need remote access technology is there to make things more productive they can't not use it it's making it productive so the the issue is and this is a real ethical question what point and for what equipment do you not put in some of this technology if you know it can make you susceptible create more accessible and reliable energy storage fossil fuel power plants are generally built far away from population centers which means that the power has to be shipped long distances a smart grid would enable a two-way flow of electricity with backup generators and energy storage systems in place that would have the ability to send power if for example the wind turbines went down in march tesla began construction of a gigantic battery connected to the state's power grid at the hornsdale power reserve a facility that can receive and store energy from nearby wind and solar farms the 100 megawatt battery could power about 20 000 homes on a hot summer day finally invest in renewable energy sources adopting renewable energy sources is a better long-term investment for more sustainable and secure power grid although these solutions are a good start to address the power grid's vulnerabilities joe weiss says there's a lot more work to be done to safeguard the us power grid from cyber security threats this is a problem that's 30 40 years in the making it's existential to this country and we are not addressing what needs to be done we can't keep ignoring it the bad guys aren't you\n"