Story about spies penetrating grid may be part of a PR campaign

There's a whole lot of propaganda all around us, and the willingness of newspapers and columnists to constantly grant anonymity to sources has turned it from a valuable tool for sunlight on public affairs into a valuable tool for any stakeholder with a telephone.

As I mentioned in a comment earlier today, I have some experience in this field.<p>Yes, the ISOs (Independent System Operators) have Internet presences. Yes, they can send out dispatch signals to the generators over the Internet. Yes, the generators can access an extranet to find out what their current dispatch should be.<p>Security (in the environment I'm most familiar with) is provided using well-known standards (SSL certificates on both the server and the client). I'm sure there are ways to spoof, but I'm not an expert at those things.<p>I have ideas on how to create a bad day for the grid, but I don't think it would be wise for me to share them ;)

The big question: why on earth are the shutdown systems (or any others) connected to the Interwebs? How on earth could the risks of that justify whatever benefits there might be? Governments are stupid about all things except increasing their power and control, so it could be true. But I'm still skeptical.<p>Does anyone know why these systems would be online and what benefits would be large enough to justify this?

Reminds me of pg's article on PR campaigns: <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html</a>

If it's all lies, what's the motive? Politicians/government officials don't usually lie without some sort of expectation of benefit.

When I was reading the article yesterday I wondered why are they telling us that the grid has been hacked. I thought this is not news at all, I mean what can we do about it. And how do they know that it was Chinese and Russians? I am sure any nation would like to know how the advanced grid works.

Do they already have a switch to shut-off the power grid?, telephones? regular mail? newspapers?<p>So why the internet? What's the threat?<p>Or is it about money? how so?