Lt-Col A. Tack
08-12-2009, 06:39 PM
Congress debates how to holster RF weapons
Electromagnetic pulse attacks: impact high, probability low
Rick Merritt, EE Times
08/12/2009 1:08 AM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif.
A debate is brewing in Congress over how to address what some characterize as a rising threat from systems that fire electromagnetic pulses (EMP) to cripple or kill electronic equipment.
On one side, proponents of new legislation estimate the government needs to spend nearly $10 billion to secure key systems from "RF weapons" they say could be carried in a briefcase and built for less than $500. Others counter the EMP threat has a very low probability and is only one of many vulnerabilities government planners are addressing.
"In the last five years, all major governments are in an arms race to develop these weapons because it is an affective technology," said Gale Nordling, president of Emprimus (Minneapolis), a 25-person company developing its own products to counter the pulses which can also be created by nuclear weapons and solar flares.
The U.S. Navy has already built RF weapons that can be carried by a soldier or transported in a truck delivering as much as 10,000 volts per square meter and used at distances up to two miles from targeted electronic gear, Nordling said. Emprimus conducted a study using a system that delivered just 20 volts per square meter causing temperature sensors to give readings 50 to 75 degrees above or below actual temperatures, he added.
"The systems create a voltage surge that overwhelms and IC and can cause it to short or even explode," he said.
Emprimus submitted written testimony to a subcommittee in the House of Representatives reviewing draft legislation (H.R. 2195) that would require government agencies to develop new procedures to protect electronic systems from attacks. A companion bill (S.946) is pending in the Senate.
The military has installed special enclosures and filters around some systems that could be vulnerable to EMP attacks. More than 300 European data centers have also installed protective systems, Emprimus said.
However U.S. government and commercial computer systems, the U.S. electric grid and other control systems for key infrastructure are considered unprotected.
In separate testimony, William R. Graham, chairman of a commission set up to assess the EMP threat, recommended Congress specifically direct government agencies to add language about EMP into the bills. Such attacks could render "significant parts of the electrical infrastructure out of service for periods measured in months to a year or more," he said, given the fact some kinds of transformers would have to be sourced from outside the country.
DoE weighs in at hearing
The field of so-called pulse-powered products taps a wide range of technologies for many uses and has been around for years. The IEEE held its 17th annual conference on the subject in Washington D.C. in late June.
The fact that the technology is now widely discussed and taught makes the threat more grave say proponents of stronger legislation. Graham and Nordling both noted the additional threat of solar flares.
"We know that geomagnetic storms will occur, and large ones can seriously damage very long-lead components of the electrical system--it is only a question of when, not if," Graham said in his testimony.
"A solar event similar to the 1859 storm would cause catastrophic damage to our modern electricity based infrastructure," Emprimus said.
In other testimony, an official from the Department of Energy laid out in detail actions government and industry are taking against a wide range of threats to electronic systems from a broad range of sources. Patricia Hoffman, acting assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability at DoE characterized electromagnetic pulses as one threat among many and one with a low probability of occurring.
DoE plans to work with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Reliability Corporation to explore the effects of a number of low probability threats to the electric system including pulses as well as influenza pandemics, space weather and terrorist attacks, she said.
However, Hoffman listed a wide variety of public and private standards exist or are being written to define how to protect infrastructure from cyber threats. In addition, five national labs and a handful of vendors have helped design and test secure control systems, she said.
A group of researchers are working on the first hardware to support a new secure protocol designed specifically for control systems, Hoffman noted. A separate group of academic and industry researchers also are exploring improved security for the electric grid, she said.
In addition, DoE has trained more than 1,800 workers in the energy sector on how to deal with cyber-threats. The department also has written security requirements into the call for proposals for the part of the economic stimulus geared for accelerating development of a next-generation of smart grid systems.
Hoffman concluded that the government should place a priority on funding the deployment of sensors to monitor physical and cyber events affecting the electric grid. DoE lacks a way to provide grants to harden private or publicly owned utilities and a way easily to share classified information on related threats, she added.
Link (http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=NA13DQCA1DJKFQE1GHRSKH4ATMY32JVN?articleID=219200293)
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Electromagnetic pulse attacks: impact high, probability low
Rick Merritt, EE Times
08/12/2009 1:08 AM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif.
A debate is brewing in Congress over how to address what some characterize as a rising threat from systems that fire electromagnetic pulses (EMP) to cripple or kill electronic equipment.
On one side, proponents of new legislation estimate the government needs to spend nearly $10 billion to secure key systems from "RF weapons" they say could be carried in a briefcase and built for less than $500. Others counter the EMP threat has a very low probability and is only one of many vulnerabilities government planners are addressing.
"In the last five years, all major governments are in an arms race to develop these weapons because it is an affective technology," said Gale Nordling, president of Emprimus (Minneapolis), a 25-person company developing its own products to counter the pulses which can also be created by nuclear weapons and solar flares.
The U.S. Navy has already built RF weapons that can be carried by a soldier or transported in a truck delivering as much as 10,000 volts per square meter and used at distances up to two miles from targeted electronic gear, Nordling said. Emprimus conducted a study using a system that delivered just 20 volts per square meter causing temperature sensors to give readings 50 to 75 degrees above or below actual temperatures, he added.
"The systems create a voltage surge that overwhelms and IC and can cause it to short or even explode," he said.
Emprimus submitted written testimony to a subcommittee in the House of Representatives reviewing draft legislation (H.R. 2195) that would require government agencies to develop new procedures to protect electronic systems from attacks. A companion bill (S.946) is pending in the Senate.
The military has installed special enclosures and filters around some systems that could be vulnerable to EMP attacks. More than 300 European data centers have also installed protective systems, Emprimus said.
However U.S. government and commercial computer systems, the U.S. electric grid and other control systems for key infrastructure are considered unprotected.
In separate testimony, William R. Graham, chairman of a commission set up to assess the EMP threat, recommended Congress specifically direct government agencies to add language about EMP into the bills. Such attacks could render "significant parts of the electrical infrastructure out of service for periods measured in months to a year or more," he said, given the fact some kinds of transformers would have to be sourced from outside the country.
DoE weighs in at hearing
The field of so-called pulse-powered products taps a wide range of technologies for many uses and has been around for years. The IEEE held its 17th annual conference on the subject in Washington D.C. in late June.
The fact that the technology is now widely discussed and taught makes the threat more grave say proponents of stronger legislation. Graham and Nordling both noted the additional threat of solar flares.
"We know that geomagnetic storms will occur, and large ones can seriously damage very long-lead components of the electrical system--it is only a question of when, not if," Graham said in his testimony.
"A solar event similar to the 1859 storm would cause catastrophic damage to our modern electricity based infrastructure," Emprimus said.
In other testimony, an official from the Department of Energy laid out in detail actions government and industry are taking against a wide range of threats to electronic systems from a broad range of sources. Patricia Hoffman, acting assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability at DoE characterized electromagnetic pulses as one threat among many and one with a low probability of occurring.
DoE plans to work with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Reliability Corporation to explore the effects of a number of low probability threats to the electric system including pulses as well as influenza pandemics, space weather and terrorist attacks, she said.
However, Hoffman listed a wide variety of public and private standards exist or are being written to define how to protect infrastructure from cyber threats. In addition, five national labs and a handful of vendors have helped design and test secure control systems, she said.
A group of researchers are working on the first hardware to support a new secure protocol designed specifically for control systems, Hoffman noted. A separate group of academic and industry researchers also are exploring improved security for the electric grid, she said.
In addition, DoE has trained more than 1,800 workers in the energy sector on how to deal with cyber-threats. The department also has written security requirements into the call for proposals for the part of the economic stimulus geared for accelerating development of a next-generation of smart grid systems.
Hoffman concluded that the government should place a priority on funding the deployment of sensors to monitor physical and cyber events affecting the electric grid. DoE lacks a way to provide grants to harden private or publicly owned utilities and a way easily to share classified information on related threats, she added.
Link (http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=NA13DQCA1DJKFQE1GHRSKH4ATMY32JVN?articleID=219200293)
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/4426/table1081209.gif