Fergie's Tech Blog

Disgruntled Techie Attempts Californian Power Blackout

Lewis Page writes on The Register:

A cheesed-off American IT worker was seized by an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force on Wednesday for attacking the Californian electric power grid.

Lonnie Charles Denison, of Sacramento, allegedly meddled with computers at the California Independent System Operator (ISO) agency. He is also accused of making a malicious bomb threat against the organisation. ISO controls the state's power transmission lines and runs its energy trading markets.

According to the feds, Denison became upset last week after a dispute with his employer, Science Applications International. Science Applications provides IT services to ISO.

Denison first attempted a remote attack against the ISO data centre on Sunday, but this was unsuccessful. He then reverted to simpler means, and entered the facility physically using his security card key late on Sunday night. Once inside, he smashed the glass plate covering an emergency power cut-off, shutting down much of the data centre through the early hours of Monday morning. This denied ISO access to the energy trading market, but didn't affect the transmission grid directly. Nor did his emailed bomb threat, delivered later on Monday, though it did lead to the ISO offices being evacuated and control passed to a different facility.

posted by Fergie @ 4/20/2007 07:00:00 PM