美国国家公共电台 NPR--Recent attacks on electric substations have the Department of Energy concerned

Recent attacks on electric substations have the Department of Energy concerned

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Puesh Kumar, director of the Energy Department's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy, Security and Emergency Response, about risks to the U.S. power grid².

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

How secure is the power grid that delivers electricity to your home, maybe even is powering this signal right now to you? Federal authorities are trying to answer that question after last year's attacks on substations. Somebody shot up a substation in North Carolina and knocked out power to tens of thousands of people. Other attacks struck stations in the Pacific Northwest. This is just one of the threats on the mind of Puesh Kumar of the U.S. Department of Energy.

PUESH KUMAR: We're going to use all of this information to inform - how do we build a grid that is more resilient in the future? Because we recognize how important the availability of power and other sources of energy are to everyone across the country.

INSKEEP: I'm trying to think about what resiliency means from a layman's perspective. I suppose it could mean building a higher wall around your substation, so it can't quite so easily be attacked. But I guess it might also mean redundancy - right? - making sure that, if somebody does blow up a substation, there's another way to get power where it needs to go.

KUMAR: Absolutely. The reality is there's a lot of different substations. There's over 75,000 electric substations across the country. We need to take measures that look at the design of those specific substations, where they're geographically³ located. There are certainly mitigation measures, such as walls. In some cases, that works well. But in other cases, that could actually be - that might not work well, just from an engineering standpoint, where these substations are very high-voltage environments. There's a lot of heat.

INSKEEP: Oh, meaning if you physically⁴ wall it off and put a roof over it, it might create other problems - overheating or any number of other things.

KUMAR: You know, you have these transformers. These transformers are very large pieces of equipment, and, you know, you have to make sure that they can be cooled. What are those measures that would actually buy down the risk?

INSKEEP: I'm thinking about how these physical attacks on the grid only had a local effect, and I'm also thinking about the difficulty of taking down the entire grid physically. Russia has spent months in Ukraine attacking the power grid, and they've certainly done damage and shut out the lights from time to time, but they have not permanently⁵ taken down the power grid. Apparently⁶, that's very hard. But is it possible that, through a cyberattack, someone could cause massive disruption through the power grid?

KUMAR: The U.S. electric grid is actually very resilient. And in many ways, given the sheer number of electric utilities we have in the United States - we have over 3,000 electric utilities. So it's a very complex electric grid that does take a lot of sophisticated hardware and software to make all of this work. With that said, we also have to take into account that the cyber-risks are increasing constantly because as we become more connected, more digitally controlled, that does introduce a cyber-risk that we have to start to manage.

INSKEEP: Are you surprised that there has not been an electrical grid equivalent of the attack on the Colonial Pipeline⁷ not so long ago, where hackers⁸ targeted a pipeline and shut it down for a period?

KUMAR: It certainly was a cyber incident, but it was also Colonial proactively shutting down their pipeline.

INSKEEP: I think you're reassuring⁹ me that the Colonial Pipeline incident wasn't quite as grave a threat as it seemed at the time, although it certainly was disruptive. But the question still stands - is it possible for a ransomware attacker or a foreign actor, like Russia, to seize some part of the electrical grid in that way or disrupt it?

KUMAR: We know that certain actors have an interest and capabilities¹⁰ that could impact portions of the energy sector¹¹. I wouldn't also downplay the Colonial incident because it did have an impact to the availability of fuel across the country, and therefore, we should be looking at how we ensure, really, the security and resilience of these systems as we see the cyberthreats continuing to grow exponentially.

INSKEEP: Is it possible there has not been a massively effective attack on the power grid because it is actually harder than it might seem?

KUMAR: We're seeing capabilities continue to increase, and so we have to make sure that we are ready before anything like that ever could happen. But this goes back to something you said earlier, Steve. How do we build in these systems with resiliency and redundancy in mind? How do we use engineering techniques to - if something does affect a portion of the electric grid, other portions don't go down as a result of that?

INSKEEP: Puesh Kumar is director of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response. Thanks so much.

KUMAR: Thanks so much, Steve.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

3 geographically   

adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe. 从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。 来自辞典例句
• All these events, however geographically remote, urgently affected Western financial centers. 所有这些事件，无论发生在地理上如何遥远的地方，都对西方金融中心产生紧迫的影响。 来自名作英译部分

4 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

5 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

6 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

7 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

8 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

9 reassuring   

a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的

参考例句：

• He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. 他轻拍了一下她的肩膀让她放心。
• With a reassuring pat on her arm, he left. 他鼓励地拍了拍她的手臂就离开了。

10 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

11 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。