The EIS Summit

In London this week, top government officials, utilities regulators, electric industry leaders, scientists and other experts from a number of countries met to discuss an issue of surpassing importance: They confirmed the vulnerability to protracted disruption of the critical infrastructures that power our 21st Century societies.

Various scenarios were considered, ranging from low-tech physical attacks on electric grids to more sophisticated, and potentially devastating, man-caused and naturally occurring events.

At the end of the Electric Infrastructure Security Summit, participants were warned that industrial control systems of hundreds of U.S. and European energy companies have been infected by a sophisticated cyber weapon. This computer “worm” is said to be the work of a state-backed group with ties to Russia.

In short, we need a Manhattan Project to protect the grid. Now.