Maybe this season of 24 wasn’t so far fetched…

FORBES: Cyberspies have penetrated the computer networks of U.S. utilities and left behind software designed to sabotage those systems.

(CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE)

Originating in China, Russia and other countries, they had entered the networks of U.S. utility companies, including those controlling electricity, water and sewage, and planted software used for taking control of the systems or shutting them down, according to the Wall Street Journal.

While the report represents the first government confirmation of successful cyberattacks against U.S. utilities, many connected with national cybersecurity have known for years that American utility companies have been continually and successfully targeted by hackers.

Some suspect that the timing behind the security officials’ new revelations may be intended as a tactic to coax private utility companies into participating in cybersecurity regulatory initiatives currently under review.

“Given the inherent vulnerability of any system connected to a network, stories like this don’t surprise anyone in the business,” Rod Beckstrom, the former Department of Homeland Security’s top official for cybersecurity told Forbes in an interview. “If the reports are true, the interesting question is, what’s the intention behind sharing this information at this time?”

Cybersecurity insiders  are also questioning which government officials had leaked it–and why.

The report emerges between two important cybersecurity landmarks.

Last Wednesday, Sens. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, introduced a controversial bill with sweeping new cybersecurity regulations, including many that will be extended to the private sector’s “critical infrastructure” systems, which the bill left undefined. ( “The Senate’s Cyber Lightning Rod.”)

And next week marks the end of a 60-day review of the so-called Cyber Initiative, a classified multibillion-dollar initiative to shore up the nation’s cyberdefense that began under the Bush administration.

This latest news comes on the heels of another discovery, by the Information Warfare Monitor project, based out of Canada at the University of Toronto. The IWM discovered what they called a GhostNet, which was a network of compromised systems used for espionage on a massive scale.

The researchers uncovered 1,295 infected systems that reside in 103 countries - “high-value targets”. Those high-value targets include systems within news media, embassies, NGOs, ministries, and other international organizations. While China was blamed in the press as the source of GhostNet, there was no solid proof.

Looks like it may be time to lock up your daughters and call in Jack Bauer

thesecretsofvancouver.com/wordpress/wheres-jack-bauer/tech-goodies