Post ASK2hRPlDtgH8w4eZc by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
(DIR) More posts by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
(DIR) Post #ASK25J2HvUG29YuWmW by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-02-04T02:38:51Z
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CNN running a story about how vulnerable the power grid is to physical attacks. I can't count the number of times over the years that I've been asked in interviews about cybersecurity in relation to the grid, and while I've noted that this is a real threat in some ways, it pales in comparison to physical threats to substations and transmission lines, which often are out in the middle of nowhere. Hardly anyone ever wanted to hear about that.
(DIR) Post #ASK2YUQGfZJbrn2ioK by aka_quant_noir@cinematheque.social
2023-02-04T02:44:05Z
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@lauren No one wants to hear about the vulnerability of nuclear waste holding pools either. Not to sabotage, not to rising seas, nothing. Too bad we're like this. Unable to plan, unwilling to look at reality.
(DIR) Post #ASK2dwJCPwUjnkKqie by vortex_egg@ioc.exchange
2023-02-04T02:44:47Z
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@lauren The guys whose doctrine is specifically to mess with power substations do tend to be more gun-guys than cyber-guys. It's taken a while for the public imagination to catch up with reality.
(DIR) Post #ASK2fZJ0ufMJ2Q1cx6 by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-02-04T02:45:01Z
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@aka_quant_noir This is pretty much S.O.P. for humans, all the way back to the caves, and perhaps earlier. Human nature does not change.
(DIR) Post #ASK2hRPlDtgH8w4eZc by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-02-04T02:45:30Z
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@vortex_egg Yep. And cyber is so much more "sexy" to discuss by most media.
(DIR) Post #ASK2nqkNwx4LRrmEL2 by aka_quant_noir@cinematheque.social
2023-02-04T02:46:50Z
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@lauren It's sad really. And we put those least able to change on such a high pedestal. Corporate boards, political office, traffic cop.
(DIR) Post #ASK6ZoTG12a09RKNZw by StevenSavage@mastodon.social
2023-02-04T03:29:09Z
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@lauren ever noticed how it hits the news, getdms discussed, then fades?
(DIR) Post #ASKH4OGUUvJTOTZjii by SocialistStan@mastodon.lol
2023-02-04T05:26:39Z
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@lauren You know what doesn't have these problems? Solar.
(DIR) Post #ASKHA4Bi3admra2t8a by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-02-04T05:27:39Z
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@SocialistStan Sure, within the scope where it's feasible, which still leaves the need for a massive grid.
(DIR) Post #ASKdol9rua7Ghxzf1s by pallsopp42@mastodon.world
2023-02-04T09:41:36Z
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@lauren I’ve often winced at just how easy it would be to take out the electric grid. Burying the lines would make it harder but so too would thousands of microgrids serving smaller areas of urban regions.Solar goes from DC to AC (via inverter) then back to low-voltage DC at our appliances (tv, computers, washer-driers etc)..hmmmm…with microgrids we could go from DC generation straight to low voltage DC appliances with less energy wastage than our current system.
(DIR) Post #ASKsmUrx09A2vDzXsW by jeber@mastodon.social
2023-02-04T12:29:15Z
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@lauren Cyber security: sexyPhysical security: boring
(DIR) Post #ASL1PvXCaqdmYAbDw8 by BearGriffin@discuss.systems
2023-02-04T14:05:57Z
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@lauren While traveling to the west coast, I noticed HIGH tension power polls with just ONE point of contact with the ground, vs the east's use of four legs towers. Talk about a push over!
(DIR) Post #ASLEJICFEl9iDCxnYu by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-02-04T16:30:31Z
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@pallsopp42 Outside of being very expensive initially, the failure modes and maintenance costs of buried power infrastructure -- even absent floods and such -- are enormous. Even minor repairs and upgrades turn into monster projects. Just isn't feasible. Amusingly, one of my April Fools' pieces for CACM many years ago was a discussion about how the U.S. planned to convert from A.C. to D.C. transmission throughout. Some people took this seriously and panicked.
(DIR) Post #ASLLNLBwk5JsL4hYDA by knapjack@mastodon.social
2023-02-04T17:49:35Z
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@lauren At a former job decades ago we used to work with this phone contractor, ex-military, who was asked about hardening the communications infrastructure at a particular base. He walked them all outside the gates about a block, looked around for privacy, and said, "Drop a grenade in this one manhole and it'll take you a month to recover."There was a 911 outage in Washington state about 15 years ago that made me remember that story. Felt too much like someone was poking at the weak spot.