An article in today's Los Angeles Times claims that hackers held the computer system with control of much of California's electricity supply under siege for at least 17 days during the state's ongoing power crisis. The attack highlighted security lapses in Cal-ISO's system. Quoting a "restricted" internal agency report the Times claims that the attack began as early as 25 April but was not detected until 11 May.
The company involved, Cal-ISO, has denied this, saying that there was no link between the attack and rolling blackouts that affected at least 400,000 customers in early May. The report has pinpointed China as the source of the attack. The theory is that the hacking was begun in the Guangdong province of China and routed through China Telecom. The Cal-ISO system was then violated via the Internet in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Santa Clara.
However, James Sample, author of the report, revealed that Cal-ISO is not really sure where the source of the attack was. "The only reason China stuck out is because of the recent political agenda China had with the US." Sample said. "An ambitious US hacker could have posed as a Chinese hacker," he added.
