How an intern hacked the powergrid: The Horus Scenario

Presented at Still Hacking Anyway (SHA2017), Aug. 7, 2017, 10:35 p.m. (60 minutes).

This talk focuses on the thesis assignment of Willem Westerhof. During this thesis it was discovered that a weak spot exists withing the Powergrid, allowing an attacker to perform a distributed attack using PV-installations to cause massive (nation-wide/continental) power outages. #NetworkSecurity #PhysicalSecurity This talk explains the so called Horus scenario (also see the article of the Volkskrant released the week prior to SHA2017). This is a scenario that exploits a weak spot in the powergrid, to cause large scale power failures by hacking PV-installations. The presentation will contain the theoretical and mathmatical foundation of this scenario and the practical evidence showing that it is in fact possible. Note that this presentation does not include full technical details, as not all vulnerabilities are fixed yet. In this presentation we will also show expected costs of impact, and take a short look at what may happen in the future if we continue to develop insecure products this way.

Presenters:

• Willem Westerhof (ITsec)
  A new ethical hacker. graduated this year, and already making headlines :) Just take a look at my LinkedIn, or contact me via LinkedIn...

Links:

• https://program.sha2017.org/events/434.html

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• 31C3 (2014) / The Invisible Committee Returns with "Fuck Off Google": Cybernetics, Anti-Terrorism, and the ongoing case against the Tarnac 10
• Black Hat USA 2017 / And Then the Script-Kiddie Said, "Let There be No Light." Are Cyber-Attacks on the Power Grid Limited to Nation-State Actors?