Unsecure Technology Is a Threat to the National Grid
Regulators and policy makers are pushing technology onto the grid with easily picked locks.
Readers probably weren’t surprised to learn that America’s electric grids remain vulnerable both to physical attacks from saboteurs and Mother Nature (“Power Grid Left Exposed to Sabotage,” page one, July 14). But there is a bigger problem looming. Regulators and policy makers are pushing technology onto the grid with easily picked locks, open backdoors and the equivalent of signs that say “Enter Here.”
“Cybersecurity has taken a back seat despite clear evidence of hacking vulnerabilities of nearly every kind of internet-connected, smart-grid and green-energy device. ”
Such is the reality of internet-enabled devices that are at the center of “smart” and “green” goals for the nation’s grids. Cybersecurity has taken a back seat despite clear evidence of hacking vulnerabilities of nearly every kind of internet-connected, smart-grid and green-energy device. It won’t do much good to physically secure key features of the grid while actually creating a cyber backdoor for hackers. But, inconveniently, making “connected” grids safe and secure will take a lot more time and money.
This letter to the editor originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal
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Mark P. Mills is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.
This piece originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal