From CNN's Jeanne Meserve
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Researchers who launched an experimental cyber attack caused a generator to self-destruct, alarming the federal government and electrical industry about what might happen if such an attack were carried out on a larger scale, CNN has learned...
Department of Homeland Security video shows a generator spewing smoke after a staged experiment.
Sources familiar with the experiment said the same attack scenario
could be used against huge generators that produce the country's
electric power.
Some experts fear bigger, coordinated attacks
could cause widespread damage to electric infrastructure that could
take months to fix.
CNN has honored a request from the Department of Homeland Security
not to divulge certain details about the experiment, dubbed "Aurora,"
and conducted in March at the Department of Energy's Idaho lab
In a previously classified video of the test CNN obtained, the generator shakes and smokes, and then stops.
DHS acknowledged the experiment involved controlled hacking into a
replica of a power plant's control system. Sources familiar with the
test said researchers changed the operating cycle of the generator,
sending it out of control. 
Watch the generator shake and start to smoke »
The White House was briefed on the experiment, and DHS officials said
they have since been working with the electric industry to devise a way
to thwart such an attack.
"I can't say it [the vulnerability]
has been eliminated. But I can say a lot of risk has been taken off the
table," said Robert Jamison, acting undersecretary of DHS's National
Protection and Programs Directorate.
Government sources said
changes are being made to both computer software and physical hardware
to protect power generating equipment. And the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission said it is conducting inspections to ensure all nuclear
plants have made the fix.
Industry experts also said the experiment shows large electric systems are vulnerable in ways not previously demonstrated.
...
Full story: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/26/power.at.risk/index.html#cnnSTCText
