Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Governments worldwide are grappling with how to make their infrastructure safe from hacking. The solution is trivial.

Everyone is afraid that their SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems are being hacked (here is one story of many). Bad people will cause dams to overflow and sewage to be poured into drinking water and the lights will go out and so on.

How do these bad people gain control over dams, water supplies, and the electric grid? Those things are connected to the Internet. The Internet can be hacked. Hence, bad people gain control over dams, water supplies, and the other infrastructure that keeps people safe and voters happy.

Why are those things connected to the Internet? Because someone else built the communications system to make the Internet function. The communications used for remote control is really cheap.

Now it is plain. Those companies that operate our utilities traded security of control for money. Hmmm.

How can we make our dams and water supplies and such safe from hackers. Pay attention as this is complicated.

Don’t connect to the silly Internet.

If you want remote control of your dam, pay a little money for your own, secure communications. I don’t know why this obvious answer has eluded utility companies. I don’t know why this obvious answer has eluded those public servants who sit on utility regulatory commissions. Perhaps someone can explain this to me.