Just seven minutes before midnight on December 17, 2016 we caught our first glimpse of the power of this weapon. That’s the day a bomb hit.
The strange thing about this bomb, though, was that you could be standing right next to the trigger and you wouldn’t have heard or felt a thing. No big blast. No flash of light. No big burst of fire. Nothing.
That night, terrorists set lose a piece of malicious software that shut down an entire section of a city. Once they set it lose, a chain reaction occurred miles away. It started with a burst of pre-programmed commands transmitted through the local power grid.
Within seconds, one circuit breaker after another popped, which shut down all the electricity on the western side of this city with a population of 3 million. Before long, the entire area was in complete darkness.
Nothing connected to the grid worked.
To the media, this was nothing more than a simple power outage. So they ignored it. It wasn’t a bomb that toppled buildings or killed massive numbers of people.
You see this hacker attack on the electrical grid happened in Kiev, Ukraine, not America. So no one here paid it any mind. After all, why should that affect us?
But this was the second attack that disrupted Ukraine’s power grid. As I wrote to you then, the first was a test, a probe to see if it would work. This one worked. The terrorists, whoever they are, are making progress. With each test, their ability to shut down civilization improves and becomes more deadly. If they can develop a software bug that shuts down large sections of the U.S. grid, massive blackouts will ensue.
As usual, the Democrats, Republicans, and the mainstream media are all bamboozled. They’re chasing Russia, North Korea, and Donald Trump, thinking all of them are the biggest threat the U.S. has ever faced. They’re missing the beginning of one of the biggest war stories of the last 100 years.
This threat could be more devastating than a nuclear bomb, and almost no one is paying attention. I did however find a New York Times report that said, “Since May, hackers have been penetrating the computer networks of companies that operate nuclear power stations and other energy facilities, as well as manufacturing plants in the United States…”
In typical “nothing to see here” fashion, The Times writes: “In a joint statement with the F.B.I., a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security said, ‘There is no indication of a threat to public safety, as any potential impact appears to be limited to administrative and business networks.’”
The FBI/Homeland Security report indicates an “advanced persistent threat” actor was responsible. To you and me, that means they were government-backed hackers.
Protection
As these hacker attacks were going on, President Trump signed an executive order to strengthen the cybersecurity defenses of federal networks and critical infrastructure.
The order specifically requires government to work with public corporations to mitigate risks and help defend critical infrastructure organizations “at greatest risk of attacks that could reasonably result in catastrophic regional or national effects on public health or safety, economic security, or national security.”
I discovered that we do have companies working very diligently to make sure this never happens inside the United States.
What happened in the Ukraine is simply a testing ground for much bigger and more serious attacks, like the powerful ransomware cyber attack that started in Russia and Ukraine before spreading to Western Europe last week. It was a variant of the “WannaCry” ransomware.
Two separate security firms have analyzed the malware responsible for the Kiev blackout. One of these firms, Maryland-based Dragos, dubbed the new malware “CrashOverride.” They, along with Slovakia-based firm ESET, identify this malware as a genuine cyber weapon.
According to their researchers, this program has the ability to “map out a power station’s control network and, with minimal human guidance, issue malicious commands directly to critical equipment.”
This type of weapon is rare. We saw it only once before when the Stuxnet virus attacked Iran’s nuclear program in 2010. CrashOverride is the first to target civilians. What’s more, these researchers say this designers of this program built it to attack an entire nation’s power supply. Dragos CEO Robert Lee says this malware wasn’t built as a one-time weapon.
“It’s a nightmare,” Lee told the news media. “The malware in its current state would be usable for every power plant in Europe. This is a framework designed to target other places.” Even worse, there were aspects of the malware that the terrorists didn’t use in the Kiev attack. So its potential is significantly greater than what we’ve seen.
CrashOverride is a significant escalation in the electronic arms race. But it’s only the beginning. The terrorists are on to our grid system. They know how it operates and they now know how to attack it. Remember, this is only a glimpse into the real threat. Any coming attack on the U.S. will make CrashOverride look tiny in comparison.
But you can be prepared. Like you, I’m always interested in protecting my life, property, and wealth. When I looked into just how vulnerable our grid is, and I discovered how old and ineffective our system is, I also found that our government is, thanks to Trump’s order, working with companies to do something about it.
In my research I uncovered three companies that are at the forefront of unlocking new technologies that will protect and strengthen our electric grid and its protections.
These companies are the best hope I’ve found for stopping a catastrophic failure caused by hackers, or a cyber-attack, because they are working for America instead of only themselves. Shocking, I know, and that’s why I recommend you take a look at a special report I’ve prepared. These aren’t fly-by-night companies that are here today and gone tomorrow. They are profitable, have strong balance sheets, and generate real shareholder value, which means you too can profit at the same time you’re helping protect our great country.
You must know about these companies today, because those who want to attack America are looking directly at America’s electric grid. To learn more about the real threat the U.S. faces from terrorist hackers, just how devastating a massive attack could be, and how these companies can protect both our national grid system and your wealth, just follow this link right now.