If you missed it this weekend, I am including a link to the 60 Minutes special on cyber security this weekend as well as embedding the video below. The episode is a sobering look at the threats to not only to the systems that comprise our power grid, but it also sheds light on just how vulnerable we are as a nation to an online attack.

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The story begins with an interview of Admiral Mike McConnell, former chief of national intelligence, who has this to say:

“If I were an attacker and I wanted to do strategic damage to the United States, I would either take the cold of winter or the heat of summer, I probably would sack electric power on the U.S. East Cost, maybe the West Coast, and attempt to cause a cascading effect. All of those things are in the art of the possible from a sophisticated attacker,” McConnell explained.

“Do you believe our adversaries have the capability of bringing down a power grid?” Kroft asked.

“I do,” McConnell replied.

Asked if the U.S. is prepared for such an attack, McConnell told Kroft, “No. The United States is not prepared for such an attack.”

As someone who has worked in the computer industry for over 20 years, it is often easy to simply look at compliance requirements as a necessary evil that brings very little real value to business. In the case of regulations governing security on the Internet, like the North American Electric Reliability Corporation – Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC-CIP) guidelines, their goal is nothing short of our National security.

In general, this was a very thorough piece that not only deals with grid security, but also highlights recent Internet based attacks and provides details of how important it is to defend all of our critical systems. If you have some time today this segment is certainly worth watching.