The always fascinating Cryptome came upon this for official use only PDF of a February 2006 cyber-terror war game that seems to indicate that Duke Energy was a participant. According to a September 2006 public report, “7 Major Electric Power Companies” participated and two of the “private sector” players seem to be in the Carolinas. One part of the scenario, called Cyberstorm, had hackers causing blackouts by corrupting the flow of data between utility remote terminal unit monitors and operations staff.
The game — put together by the Department of Homeland Security — imagined that the Worldwide Anti Globalization Alliance (WAGA) had targeted the electrical grid and nuclear power plants. One element of WAGA in particular went by the name of The Peoples Pact was responsible for making bomb threats and promising more blackouts to come while an ad hoc group of hackers in Berlin (!) used an “OASIS DDOS Attack” to confuse wireless RTUs into sending bad info, which in turn would trip grid circuit breakers causing blackouts. Oh, and the name of the hackers is the Tricky Trio.
Whew! Cyberstorm II was held in March 2008 and added pipeline and railroad security, with the state of North Carolina joining in. Does that mean Cyberstorm III is underway right now?
