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International computer hackers threatening to hold cities ransom

January 18, 2008

CIA says hackers pulled plug on overseas power grid

Overseas attacks recently declassified, but some details obscure

By Robert McMillan

(IDG News Service) -- Criminals have been able to hack into computer systems via the Internet and cut power to several cities, a Central Intelligence Agency analyst said this week.

Speaking at a conference of security professionals on Wednesday, CIA analyst Tom Donahue disclosed the recently declassified attacks while offering few specifics on what actually went wrong.

Criminals have launched online attacks that disrupted power equipment in several regions outside of the U.S., he said, without identifying the countries affected. The goal of the attacks was extortion, he said.

"We have information, from multiple regions outside the United States, of cyber intrusions into utilities, followed by extortion demands," he said in a statement posted to the Web on Friday by the conference's organizers, the SANS Institute. "In at least one case, the disruption caused a power outage affecting multiple cities. We do not know who executed these attacks or why, but all involved intrusions through the Internet."

"According to Mr. Donahue, the CIA actively and thoroughly considered the benefits and risks of making this information public, and came down on the side of disclosure," SANS said in the statement.

One conference attendee said the disclosure came as news to many of the government and industry security professionals in attendance. "It appeared that there were a lot of people who didn't know this already," said the attendee, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with the press...

-- Source/continues at: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?
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Last updated at 23:33pm on 18th January 2008

CIA launches hunt for international computer hackers threatening to hold cities ransom by shutting off power

By WILLIAM LOWTHER

The CIA has launched a major hunt for international computer hackers who are threatening to throw cities into chaos by sabotaging their electricity supplies. In a shock announcement last night the American spy agency said that the hackers were running a massive extortion plot. They are threatening to cut off city lighting and power supplies unless they are paid huge sums of ransom money...

-- Source/continues: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html
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