NSA Speculates Anonymous Could Cause Power Outages With Cyberattacks
- Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:15pm by
Liz Klimas
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In this year alone, the hacker collective Anonymous has infiltrated and/or launched attacks on prominent government agencies such as the CIA, DOJ and FBI, in addition to a slew of local governments and police departments. Some of these attacks have revealed private information, while others have temporarily disabled websites.
These types of attacks have prompted the National Security Administration to speculate that Anonymous could eventually make its way into U.S. infrastructure as well, creating small, albeit short-lived, power outages.
(Related: Homeland Security: Attacks on U.S. Infrastructure on the Rise)
The Wall Street Journal reports that with more utilities bringing systems online to streamline operations, within the next year — or two — they could be susceptible to “stateless” hackers:
Gen. Keith Alexander, the director, provided his assessment in meetings at the White House and in other private sessions, according to people familiar with the gatherings. While he hasn’t publicly expressed his concerns about the potential for Anonymous to disrupt power supplies, he has warned publicly about an emerging ability by cyberattackers to disable or even damage computer networks.
Gen. Alexander’s warning signals a growing federal concern over the capabilities of Anonymous, a loose affiliation of so-called hacktivist computer programmers who have launched a raft of high-profile cyberassaults against U.S. government and corporate targets such as Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and eBayInc.’s PayPal service.
Even if Anonymous were to launch an attack on utilities that would result in blackouts, which WSJ notes it hasn’t yet threatened, experts have said the power outage would be short and localized. WSJ reports that there are measures in place that allow power to be restored as quickly as possible in the event of a cyberattack. While Anonymous, which WSJ calls a “stateless group”, doesn’t have the capability to disrupt the grid yet, but it’s not an unlikely possibility. The scenario discussed in a White House meeting included another country giving malware that could disrupt power systems to a group like Anonymous:
“A near-peer competitor [country] could give cyber malware capability to some fringe group,” said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Some hacker, next thing you know, could be into our electrical grid. We have to get after this.”
According to Gizmodo, Anonymous has spoken out against these suggestions stating that its attacks are to help “ordinary citizens against leaders and power structures”. Shutting off the power would not accomplish this goal. Anonymous wrote:
The NSA’s reprehensible fear-mongering and attempts to discredit #Anonymous are transparent and baseless.
NSA’s alarmist rhetoric & fear-mongering is reprehensible. They should focus on the myriad of current security holes.
While utility hacks aren’t an immediate target for Anonymous, the group is currently working on taking down the whole of the Internet on March 31 as part of its Operation Global Blackout. This operation targets the world’s 13 root Domain Name Servers. MSNBC reports an Anonymous member stating the shut down may not be long– perhaps only an hour — but “it will be global. It will be known.” Still, experts have said it is unlikely Anonymous would be successful in this attempt. Kim Davies from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers conceded that there could be “small disruptions” but he is “doubtful anyone will notice.”
[H/T Gizmodo]
This post has been updated to include Anonymous’ perspective.
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Comments (81)
Rayblue
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:23pmNony won’t contaminate his or her own area. Only those areas that, in their own mind, are the culprits in this or that childishly conceived injustice. But make no mistake. They are part and parcel of this administration. And will be protectively ignored until their usefulness is considered finished.
Report Post »lovenfl3
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:59pmI couldn’t agree more. This is the same group that took a leadership role in the OWS movement. Yet watch how the administration tries to cover that up when it hits the fan. You acn’t have your cake and eat it too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMbxtBIQX-I
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:04pmI wonder if “Anonymous” is behind many communities in the U.S shutting down street-lights and even yet in others the lights appearing to be on timers now leaving entire streets in the dark?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:08pmSometimes I wonder if “Anonymous” is just a facade.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:16pmThe thing I find funny is that the creeps think they can depend on state and local police to help them enforce their cause, and yet once the families of the police begin to be affected by bankrupt communities and possible roving blackouts, police support will side-track to supporting their own families. Evil people just don’t seem to plan for all contingencies.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:19pmAnd when Special Forces, and Marine officers begin to hear about Grandma not having electricity, they aren’t going to like it very much.
Report Post »sdarbro
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 10:06amITSJUSTTIM:
I had that same thought. The problem with being completely anonymous is that anyone with the logo and a Fawkes mask can claim to be you. Maybe the real anonymous is behind this or maybe they are wondering who these people are that claim to be them.
How organized is Anonymous? Do they know one another? Would they know if their organization was hijacked? If I hacked the DWTS website and claimed to be them, how would they disperse press to clear their name? How would the press know who is really Anonymous and who is a fraud?
In a nightmare scenario, a rogue Gov agency could use the facade of Anonymous to implement nefarious activities and the unsuspecting public would have only a phantom in a Fawkes mask to blame. Then the rogue gov agency could falsely accuse ANYBODY of being involved in Anonymous, specifically people who interfere with their plans. The court of public opinion would never buy a standard “it’s not me” defense. You would be screwed.
Ok authors, take this premise and run with it! It has all the nuances of a great tech-thriller!
Report Post »Ruler4You
Posted on February 23, 2012 at 5:59pmGovernment NSA Speculates Anonymous Could Cause Power Outages With Cyberattacks.
Only figures. We took the easiest route. It all could have been done in a “secure” manor. But we chose ‘Easy’ (as in MONEY).
Yeah, it could ALL be encrypted. Yeah, it could ALL be safe. But, no, it doesn’t seem prudent at this juncture. Why? What the heck could make you WANT to be exposed to disaster?
That question, I can’t answer. It’s too voluminous to be inclusive here. But we KNOW that government ISN’T working to protect Americas. It’s obvious at every turn.
I could go through the list here, borders, language, culture. But it won’t help. Our government “IS” on a self destructive course. It won‘t change course and it won’t become intelligent. It just won’t.
Americans, really, have only one choice. Be prepared. Just like a frontiersman. Deny government anything except what it will kill you to take. (Which “IS” almost everything. Including your faith on God. If you let them)
Report Post »neverending
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:23pmWho knows what surprises 2012 will bring us and especially close to election day,
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:13pmEverything will maybe suddenly be turned back on just to catch the ending Remarks “Has once again won election to the White House.”
Report Post »SychinLegacy
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:23pmIt‘s funny how our government knows everything about Iran’s internal affairs and their supposed nuclear facilities, but we don’t know how to find a group of kids in a basement somewhere hacking stuff for fun. It doesn’t make any sense. And it makes even less sense when you factor in all this surveillance technology the government and Google has.
Something just does not add up about anonymous. Don’t take them at face value. I might even be willing to say the government is funding them for a multitude of reasons. Or at the very least protecting them in a quid pro quo fashion.
Report Post »anonymous1134
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:32pmThe Point really is that Anonymous unlike you guys all think has no reason to act.
PROJECT CHANOLOGY: NOT ANON
OWS/Occupy Oakland: NOT ANON
Liberal Fringe Groups: NOT ANON
VISA/MASTERCARD/PAYPAL/SONY: LULZSEC: NOT ANON
If you are going to blame the group do your research first. Either that or Go to 4chan and Actually read what People are saying. Most of them Tend to be conservatives. Browse /k/ Its an all weapons/Military Veterans board.
/pol/ Political debate threads
DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH
Report Post »SychinLegacy
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 11:14pmThat violates all known logic. People don’t just do stuff for no reason. Especially not stuff with very serious consequences like this.
anonymous1134
Posted on February 22, 2012 at 2:12amLet me be more specific. If Anonymous was purely hell bent on “Destroying American Values, and ******* everyone off” and Our FBI profile States that we a bunch of basement dwellings Betas; then why would we turn off the electricity that allows us access to the internet?
It doesn’t add up, But whatever the government and the Media say must be true. Not like they have made up crap and smeared peoples reputations before…
Report Post »ForTheRepublic
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:21pmso the FEDS are well on their way to setting up the scapegoats for their next false flag
Report Post »anonymous1134
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:26pmPrettymuch, They just love to demonize us.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:18pmBack in the late ‘90’s we had a crash of the west coast power grid. It was due to a pear tree that had shorted out a line in Idaho or that was the “official story”. It isn’t a stretch to think they could shut down a portion of our grid. The tree took out the whole west coast!
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:14pmI think they are evil in sheeps clothing if you know what i mean.
Report Post »Slayer
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:09pmWho cares if anonymous takes down the power grid? I’m more worried about a guy firing his legal gun at a poor criminal trying to rob his house. Or an out-of-control Amish farmer trying to sell raw milk. Or a pre-K kid trying to eat the lunch her mom packed for her instead of what the State told her she could eat. THESE are the important issues. THESE are the things our spy agencies, civil-defense organizations, and government should be focused on.
Report Post »BLACKDIAMONDSKIER
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:26pmWouldn’t that be something…….Just think about it……..The president of the United States could declare a National Emergency…..and…….Executive orders would then be in effect essentially handing the keys of our country to a TYRANT !!!!! And there isn’t one damn thing Congress or the American people could do to stop it. All the agencies who are not bound by Congress or Congressional funding would then operate the entire country. ALL UNELECTED OFFICIALS PUT IN THESE POWERFUL POSITIONS BY THE TYRANT HIMSELF !!!
Report Post »whatthecrazy
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:38pm@Blackdiamondskier Well THATS comforting…………………
Report Post »Dan_o
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:08pmNot rain on your, well, rainy day, but try looking up videos on the firearm confiscations that took place after Katrina…and that was under the “good” president!
From my cold dead hands.
Report Post »The Jewish Avenger
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:09pmAnd this ladies and gentlemen is where our goverents walk into some place “pull the plug” create riots and mayhem, do one of those cyber talk for you program speeches stating they are anonymous, they pass a bill and Viola! end of freedoms on the internet.
Report Post »kangaroo
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:07pmOdictator all the way wouldn’t you say. No wonder the dude is acting calm. Cause chaos anyway he can.
Report Post »MarcusFL
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:07pmDidnt they do a facebook attack?
I dont facebook,..did it ever happen?
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:06pmHonestly, Annonymous has moved way beyond the realm of Mom and Dad’s basement. I imagine the original people have quitely had conveinient accidents and no longer can claim the groups origin.
Report Post »american1st
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:05pmanonymous is largely kids playing around with scripts, not real hackers, it sounds to me like somebody wants a boggy man to justify internet monitoring (like SOPA and ACTA) and shut down switches (like china)… anonymous is little more than a loud mouth nuance who (like a broken clock) are usually wrong….. (but even so, they are on the right side every once in a while.)
.don’t let fear mongering drive you to giving up liberty for a little security….
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:04pm12 Monkeys….all it will take is idiots such as these to cause a chain reaction that they did not (in their highly intellectual intellect, while on Mom’s basement sofa, drinking her Capitalistic Pop and chips-foresee.)
Report Post »Mr.Fitnah
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:04pmAnonymous is a government agent provocateur.
Report Post »possom
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:02pmoooooooo power outage scarrrrrrry, pppfffttt
Report Post »MarcusFL
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:02pmmsconstrue
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:52pm
i look at it this way, if there were any good to “anonymous”, they would crash child porn sites and turn those people in….from what i have seen so far, they have hurt innocent people mostly…..
how is it helpful in anyway to mess with the electrical grid?
VERY WELL SAID! LISTEN UP PEOPLE!
Report Post »american1st
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:07pmthey do crash pedo sites…. Google it…
Report Post »Chris2
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:52pm“i look at it this way, if there were any good to “anonymous”, they would crash child porn”
They did and continue to do that. They have a higher rate of success than the FBI
Just in January they were able to upload a fake version of TOR and got the personal information of 431 people who visited child porn sites on the Darknet. They are now all being prosecuted.
Report Post »doomytram
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:50pmIf Oblamer could wipe out all our Credit Card debt via Anonymous and get our minds of off the problems ahead, then that could be a good campaign plank for him. Round up Citzens or eliminate their debt….
Report Post »The truth is stranger than fiction. Obama would love to stick it to the bankers, but I think he wants to selectively pass out the free money.
cemerius
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:49pmWow!! Anonymous is the NEW boogey man??? Yes people Animal Farm and 1984 were written with a prophetic sense for today’s times!!!! Wars and rumours of wars and invented
Report Post »“boogey men”…….So people have forgotten what life was like before the internet??? ha ha ha people think the loss of the power grid would only affect their Facebook and not the fact that life as we know it is gonna be VERY hard to survive….
Plan B
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:55pmI have been following these hactivists for quite some time. Some of them are good guys, some, not so good. You can not lump them all together as a group. There are some friends that play together, but many are very secretive and even thier families do not know what they do in thier spare time.
The guy in the interview below sounds like the typical snot nosed kid that you hear somepeople talk about. But read the whole article. You can get to know some on these guys in IRC, 4chan etc. You will occasionally find some good info in pastbin and sites like that. Some of these guys do have the capabillity to shut down a power plant. That would not be too hard for some of them to do. But the majority of them just do it for the lulz. Many are getting very political like cabincr3w, anonw0rm, TriCk and others. You just can not call all hacktivists ANONymous like it is some organization that has monthly meetings and decides who’s site to deface, who to hack etc. I believe if we did have a serious attack it would not be anon, it would be one of these lone wolfs or big sis.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Hackers-Around-the-World-It-s-No-TriCk-He-s-Among-the-Best-in-the-UK-253652.shtml?utm_source=ForumSoftpedia&utm_medium=ForumSoftpedia&utm_campaign=ForumSoftpedia
Report Post »CFL Tea Party
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:46pmSounds like the NSA has launched their propaganda campaign. Now they accuse them of a power outage that killed a kid on a respirator so they can hunt them down and put them on trial for manslaughter. You gotta stay one step ahead of these corrupt bastards. The NSA doesn’t make “speculations” like this public for no reason. They been embarrassed by these guys and now it’s time for some payback.
Report Post »cemerius
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:55pmYep….
Report Post »justangry
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:56pmThis is about controlling information. That’s it. They had to back off of SOPA, so they’ve come up with a new excuse. We’ve had a power grid LONG before we had the internet.
Report Post »MammalOne
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:07pmWell said. Next step, hack NSA and expose them for the joke of an organization they are.
Report Post »justangry
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:36pmPure evil propaganda.
Report Post »doomytram
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:43pmEggzachery!
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:49pmThe Chinese could do it. Why not some anarchist hackers? Because they are stupid? All of them can’t be incompetent.
It is a good reason to be able to live off grid for a few days. Back up power generators for houses are not all that uncommon anymore. Which is a good thing. That means that are that many fewer desperate people in case their is a natural calamity or a civil disorder.
Report Post »justangry
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:01pmQuit being a baby. We’ve had electricity for how many years now? How long have we had the internet? It’s a scare tactic used by the people (I think globalist at the CFR) who want to filter information through 4 companies. The internet is the only free and independent press, so to speak, that we have. There’s nothing more to this story.
Report Post »Steve28
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:35pmThey need to arrest these clowns and give them hard time for an extended period of time.
Report Post »CFL Tea Party
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:41pmWhy? The government needs to back off the internet. It wasn’t created for them but they sure want to regulate it. Just like everything else that wasn’t created for government regulation.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:17pmTime to start hoarding pencils and paper.
Report Post »Banter
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:33pmYes, I’m sure the government, er, I mean anonymous could disrupt the grid.
Create the problem, then offer the solution. In this case, the solution means less liberty for us.
Report Post »copatriots
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:40pmThought the same thing, BANTER. Do you think they would even tell us about it if they weren’t controlling the outcome and agenda and spin?
How long has the media been “in the tank” for the progressive movement?
Report Post »Banter
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:09pmTo me I think a lot of it started during the later stages of the Vietnam war, however, I think today we are seeing the results of the consolidation into a small number of very large companies that control almost all media outlets. These media giants won’t go against their ownership, thus the news is shaped and distorted so as to upset the least number in power, and provide the maximum control effect on the masses (i.e. see the change in Fox News over the last year)
Report Post »chips1
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:33pmBANTER:
Report Post »Didn’t the Bible mention that someone would solve all of the worlds problems and people would pay homage to him? Sounds like the Dems are trying to make you think everything is going to destroy you and then they come up with a cure. Something’s fishy here!!!!!!
CatB
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:32pmHow about lauch codes” .. does he have can he get those ?…. sounds like our government is helpless/clueless.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:39pmWho says Obama has not already given them away as well.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:44pmHi SNOW .. yes but even Obama isn’t above the law .. and if someone within government finds him breaking it they have a duty to up hold their oath … to protect and defend … from all enemies .. both foreign AND DOMESTIC ;-)
Report Post »CatB
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:46pmI know Obama acts and thinks he is above the law … but I pray there are still patriots within the walls of power.
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:55pmIt still takes two to turn the key. And many more inbetween to launch.
Report Post »CFL Tea Party
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:29pmI don’t support EVERYTHING this group participates in but I support A LOT of it. Any time they make the government look like the fools that they are, I smile. Hack every government site you can, ANONYMOUS! I hope the social conservative witch burners don’t try to hijack Anonymous like they did my beloved Tea Party.
RP 2012!
Report Post »msconstrue
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:35pmyeah, wont it be special when they can figure out how to launch a few missiles?……yeah buddy, that’ll be just dandy!!!
Report Post »CFL Tea Party
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:40pmYou can launch missiles via government websites? Wow!
Report Post »msconstrue
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:52pmi look at it this way, if there were any good to “anonymous”, they would crash child porn sites and turn those people in….from what i have seen so far, they have hurt innocent people mostly…..
Report Post »how is it helpful in anyway to mess with the electrical grid?
MammalOne
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:02pmI agree. A lot of their motivations are suspect and it’s painfully obvious this group has socialistic tendencies – which I do not share. However, I can‘t help but crack a smile when I hear that Anonymous hacked the CIA’s website and replaced the home page with a pop-tart kitten picture.
But their operation blackout will for sure flop. Even with every bot at their command, there’s no way a DDoS attack on the major internet servers will be significant.
Either way, the internet belongs to the public and the government has no right to regulate it. It‘s the last vestige of freedom on the planet and I’m glad someone’s fighting for it
Report Post »MrButcher
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:06pmcheers to you CFL Tea Party.
Report Post »CFL Tea Party
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:31pm@ MSCONSTRU
I can’t think of any example of them hurting anyone via these website hacks. This is civil disobedience in the face of a corrupt government (no matter what party you align with, most of us know they are crooks). They are mocking the government which is well deserved and this is one example of me supporting them 100%. The internet is OURS! – not theirs to police, regulate and eventually take over.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:18pmAt this point-who is wagging the tail?
Report Post »SoupSandwich
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 8:33pmIndeed.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on February 21, 2012 at 9:04pmThere probably are anarchist groups feeling their oats, who makes some attacks. And they are playing into the hands of the government.
An anarchist group makes several attacks. The government makes 2 or 3 attacks after that & blames it on them. Not hard to believe. Maybe the anarchist should have thought a little more instead shooting from the hip.
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