lurk
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shut it down, not shoot it down. also:The gunshots fired into two Duke Energy power substations in Moore County echoed earlier attacks on similar facilities around the country, most notably one outside San Jose, California, nearly a decade ago.
At least two people armed with rifles opened fire on Pacific Gas & Electric’s Metcalf substation shortly after midnight on April 16, 2013. A fusillade of more than 100 rounds disabled 17 transformers. The company was able to reroute power and contain the outage but had to spend $15 million on repairs.
There have been other attacks on power substations since, including a series by an Arkansas man later that year. In 2016, someone fired a rifle into a substation in southern Utah, cutting off electricity to 13,000 customers for a day.
But the Metcalf attack remains the touchstone event that highlights the vulnerability of power substations. Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks was asked about the California attack at a press conference Monday.
“We learn from every incident that security is always an evolving process,” Brooks replied. “We take information from our peers; we share information with our trade organizations and government agencies. It’s a collaborative effort to stay ahead of these kinds of challenges. Certainly that event provided learnings for all of the industry and was incorporated into our responses.”
Brooks has declined to discuss security measures at the Moore County substations or what changes might be made after the attacks.
“What I can say is that Duke Energy incorporates multiple layers across its system to monitor and protect critical infrastructure,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned utility companies about such attacks last January. In a widely reported memo first disclosed by The Daily Beast, the agency said that “domestic violent extremists” had “developed credible, specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020, identifying the electric grid as a particularly attractive target given its interdependency with other infrastructure sectors.”
The following month, three men pleaded guilty in Ohio to federal charges related to a scheme to attack power substations to sow unrest and economic upheaval to further their white supremacy ideology. As part of the conspiracy, each man was assigned a substation in a different region of the country, according to prosecutors.
“The plan was to attack the substations, or power grids, with powerful rifles,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendants believed their plan would cost the government millions of dollars and cause unrest for Americans in the region. They had conversations about how the possibility of the power being out for many months could cause war, even a race war, and induce the next Great Depression.”
oy vey! huwite supreemists everywhere!A federal memo warned substations in Washington and Oregon recently suffered physical attacks similar to the targeted gunfire toward the power grid over the weekend in Moore County, North Carolina, where tens of thousands still remain without electricity on Wednesday.
NewsNation obtained a federal law enforcement memo warning, "Power stations in Oregon and Washington have reported physical attacks on substations using handtools, arson, firearms, and metal chains possibly in response to an online call for attacks on critical infrastructure."
The memo said the aim is "to cause widespread power failures with the potential impact of social disruption and violent anti-government criminal activity."
"In recent attacks, criminal actors bypassed security fences by cutting the fence links, lighting nearby fires, shooting equipment from a distance or throwing objects over the fence and on to equipment."
On Nov. 11, sheriff’s deputies in Jones County, North Carolina, reported that criminal vandalism caused 12,000 people to lose power for days and that investigation remains ongoing.
No suspects have been identified or arrested in that case.
where's @j15m when you need him?Just days after what officials are calling a “targeted” attack at two Duke Energy substations in North Carolina, NewsNation has obtained federal documents showing evidence of at least six other “intrusions” at Duke Energy substations in Florida.
In September, Duke Energy Florida experienced at least half a dozen “substation intrusion events,” according to an incident report obtained by NewsNation.
On Sept. 21, an intruder “forced entry” into the Zephyrhills North substation in Pasco County, manually tripping equipment that caused an outage lasting nine minutes, according to a report filed with the U.S. Department of Energy.
One day later, someone “forced entry” at Duke’s East Clearwater substation in Pinellas County, again manually tripping equipment that caused an outage lasting two minutes.
The two substations are about 50 miles apart and both incidents took place in the early morning hours between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m.
Experts say the threats to infrastructure are nothing new but appear to have become more common recently.
“It’s definitely not a new type of threat but I think we’re seeing a level of intent to cause damage that is higher than we’ve probably seen in the past,” said Todd Keil, an associate managing director for security risk management at Kroll, who previously worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The report filed by Duke Energy Florida said the two latest incidents followed four other “similar substation intrusion events,” all of which occurred in the state during the month of September.
Earlier in the month, an intruder entered Duke’s Bay Ridge substation in two separate incidents on Sept. 10 and Sept. 13. The Orange Blossom substation was targeted on Sept.18, as was the Zephyrhills substation on Sept. 21.
Duke Energy issued the following statement after NewsNation asked for additional information about the incidents in Florida:
Federal law enforcement suspects the people behind the Florida intrusions likely have inside knowledge of the grid and understand how to power down equipment without causing damage, according to a memo obtained by NewsNation.We can’t comment on any ongoing legal proceedings or investigations. However, given the nature and scale of our operations, we – alongside federal, state and local law enforcement and security officials and industry partners – are continuously assessing and evolving our measures to protect our critical infrastructure. That partnership includes helping bring anyone, who damages our system, to justice.
DUKE ENERGY
“The fact that someone has potentially identified a critical substation and then has knowledge of those critical pieces of equipment inside that substation leads me to believe that they’re dealing with people who have inside knowledge,” the memo read.
Duke Energy Florida said it is actively investigating the incidents with law enforcement and has installed video surveillance equipment and posted guards at substations in the area, according to the incident report dated Sept. 22.
