The number of electrical outages affecting 50,000 or more people for at least an hour doubled during the decade up to 2012. Most of the blackouts were caused by damage to large transmission lines and substations during extreme weather events, a new analysis from nonprofit Climate Central says. Michigan has the most outages, followed by Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In the latest development since the targeted attack on a southern California Pacific Gas & Electric Co. substation last April, PG&E is offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the attack.
Thirty-five countries pledged Tuesday to turn international guidelines on nuclear security into national laws, including France, Britain, Canada and Israel. This move is aimed at preventing terrorists from acquiring nuclear material. The initiative also commits countries to open up their security procedures to independent review – a further step toward creating an international legal framework to mitigate risks of nuclear terrorism.
Copper wire thefts from highway street lights have decreased over the past few months following a December plea for help, an Indiana Department of Transportation official said Thursday. Crews are crediting counter-theft measures put in place with the Indiana State Police.
Federal energy regulators plan to impose new security rules on electric utilities to make sure they protect major substations and other facilities critical to the operation of the electric grid.
“One of the key goals of advancing this nation’s cybersecurity is building trust and relationships between the government and the private sector.”
March 1, 2014
“Cybersecurity is a matter of homeland security,” said new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, adding “one of the key goals of advancing this nation’s cybersecurity is building trust and relationships between the government and the private sector.”
In early January, residents of Charleston, W. Va., found that their tap water had a licorice smell and a strong aftertaste, and it resulted in a number of people reporting a variety of ailments.
In early January, residents of Charleston, W. Va., found that their tap water had a licorice smell and a strong aftertaste, and it resulted in a number of people reporting a variety of ailments.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) warns that the April 16, 2014, attack on a California power plant proves that terrorists could take down whole stretches of the U.S. power grid. Schumer said Sunday that power companies currently have the right to veto proposed security requirements, but he is calling for the federal energy regulator and the Department of Homeland Security to draft tougher security standards overseen by Congress that would end the industry’s veto rights.
An April attack on Silicon Valley’s phone lines and power grid was terrorism, according to former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Jon Wellinghoff said Wednesday. The FBI has released multiple statements that is has found no indications to support this claim, but Wellinghoff says he reached his conclusion after consulting with Defense Department experts about the attack, which involved snipping AT&T fiber-optic lines to knock out phone and 911 service, and firing shots into a PG&E substation, causing outages, an Associated Press article reports.
The reality of living without computers, mobile phones and entertainment systems, and managing a transport system thrown into chaos by an absence of traffic lights, trains and subways, may become increasingly common, according to a new academic study.