We're using Commie Power? If I lick a transformer I can catch Covid-19? Or just get a mouth full of Optimus Prime? You're gonna have to help me out a bit here. Exactly which horrible, life threatening conspiracy theory should I be thinking about right now?
I've known about this for years. Being a smug dork doesn't change the facts.
https://www.realclearenergy.org/art...as_infection_of_the_us_power_grid_576065.html
China and "probably one or two other" countries can shut down the U.S. power grid through a cyberattack. This
disturbing revelation was made by Admiral Michael Rogers, former head of the National Security Agency, to Congress -
in November 2014.
China has also become the world's leading supplier of transformers - the "spine" of electricity grids -- according to a 2014 U.S. Department of Energy (DoE)
report. This also presents significant challenges to U.S. grid security.
For economic and security reasons, the United States should no longer purchase transformers and other electric grid equipment manufactured in China. It is important to end relationships that U.S. utilities have directly with Chinese businesses and multi-national companies manufacturing transformers in China.
These actions are envisioned under a
May 1 Executive Order President Trump issued on protecting the bulk-power grid. Chinese power equipment provided to the U.S. can be embedded with software and hardware to remotely commit mischief from Beijing, enhancing its ability to commit cyberattacks.
Such items will not be easy to find. Large power transformers are huge, and weigh between 100 and 400 tons.
There is also a hardware risk. Counterfeit items are common throughout China and can easily be put into large power transformers, knowingly or unwittingly. Even if China is not presently doing this, the potential risks are too high.
