Cyber Attack on Turkish Electric Grid?

[ORAC]

Turkey power cut: Prime Minister says nationwide blackout could be caused by terrorists

A nationwide blackout across Turkey has thrown the country into chaos. Power outages have been reported in dozens of cities throughout the country due to a fault on power transmission lines, according to Turkey's Electricity Transmission Company TEİAŞ's statement.

Prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said that a crisis-desk at the Ministry of Energy has been established. He added: "We're considering all probabilities behind nationwide power outage, including terrorism."

Energy minister Taner Yıldız said that the fault was restored in some provinces as of midday. Due to the allegations that the fault was a cyber attack, Mr Yıldız said: "We cannot confirm whether power outage was a cyber or terrorist attack."

Istanbul's metro, tram and Marmaray services have come to a halt due to the blackout. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality announced on Twitter that metro and tram services, along with Marmaray, had stopped due to the power outage. All passengers were successfully evacuated from metro lines. Traffic lights are also out of service in Istanbul, causing traffic jam in central neighborhoods.

Around 25 cities reported a power outage including Ankara, İzmir, Antalya and Adana. There have been reports of power outages in various shopping centres.

Turkey is currently experiencing electricity outages in many regions due to transmission line problems which occurred at 10.3am, Turkish Electricity Transmission Company, TEİAŞ officials said. In the western province of Kocaeli, one of the industrial centers of Turkey, several factories stopped production in the morning as most of the province was affected by the blackout. Local reports of a "huge explosion" in Kocaeli have not been confirmed.

Italian photojournalist Piero Castellano, who is living in Ankara, Turkey, said: “I’m currently trying to direct my friends to shops where they could buy solar chargers. There has been no explanation yet. I’ve seen online that the blackout spans 24 regions. The Istanbul metro, tramway and sub-Bosphorus Marmaray rail line are all down."

[t43562]

I am in Turkey at the moment and we just got power back. The most interesting aspect of it is that nobody knew what was happening and we didn't realise for a long time that the cut wasn't just local - because one depends on electrical means to get news a lot anyhow.

I think the cyberattack thing is a bit fanciful and that it is rather early to bandy that about. If I had a weapon like that I'd rather use it when it really mattered because after you use it once your opponent will wake up and fix up their defences.

[langleybaston]

or you could of course feel the need to test your ability ..................

[Wander00]

Even in this day and age "cock-up" usually beats "conspiracy". However,...........

[ORAC]

Even in this day and age "cock-up" usually beats "conspiracy". However,...........

Since they're supporting Saudi attacking Yemen/Iran, it is a possibility, perhaps as a warning....

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Wander00

Hanlon's Razor

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

[taxydual]

Maybe someone forgot to put a shilling in the meter.

[Whenurhappy]

When I lived there power cuts were commonplace; most businesses have a small generator ready out the back just for these occurrences. However, there cuts were typically localised - not as widespread as this. Interesting to note that the Van region - supplied from Iran - was not affected.

However, I have never lived in a country more riven by conspiracy theories; I would be cautious, therefore, of accepting anything originating from Turkey.

[Wander00]

I understand that South Africa is high up the power cut league table, driven in great part by the lack of power station and grid maintenance in the last 21 years

[Lonewolf_50]

There was a lot of talk a few years ago about the Stuxnet virus and how it ended up infecting a few important things in Iran. Cyberwarfare has been alive and well for some years, which art includes the countermeasures and counter-countermeasures similar to what was developed in the ESM, ECM, and ECCM capabilities over the past 50 to 60 years.

The trick in this art is to get in and out, do some damage, but leave no footprints. One could argue that the Stuxnet attempt didn't quite achieve that standard. A successful disruption effort would achieve a sort of "Ninjutsu of cyberwarfare," which leaves the culprit untracked, and/or leaves deliberate bits of misdirection to lead the victim of the attack looking elsewhere for the source of intrusion.

It's been a few years since I was involved in such things. I can only guess at how the art has progressed. Given how many nations are tossing brainpower into this arena of conflict and skullduggery, I'll guess that it has advanced by at least an order of magnitude.

Since I don't know how the Turkish electrical grid is constructed and deployed, it would be difficult to estimate how vulnerable it is to such interference. Where the critical nodes are would be where to look, what failure modes were, and how quickly they could be restored.

I don't discount the PM's concerns / fears that something got into the system deliberately, since all sorts of dirty work goes on in cyberspace every day. I do agree that Fox3's position and Wanderoo's estimate are where to bet unless someone uncovers evidence of interference / disruption by an outside party.

[NutLoose]

I would have thought you would cause mischief elsewhere prior to taking down the power supply as with the best will in the world you are not going to be able to do a lot of hacking if the telephone and internet are offline due to the power systems being down.

[Lonewolf_50]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

I would have thought you would cause mischief elsewhere prior to taking down the power supply as with the best will in the world you are not going to be able to do a lot of hacking if the telephone and internet are offline due to the power systems being down.

Some bombs are set with delayed fuses.

[Hangarshuffle]

London power down

A lot of the west end is disrupted due to the on going fire and damage in the system around Holborn/Queensway. Pubs and shops shut all around Charing Cross, Strand, Convent Garden even up to Seven Dials etc. Our cities are easily disrupted. Our lives easily upset - modern tills....who can still do arithmetic to keep up with modern life?

[Roadster280]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

I would have thought you would cause mischief elsewhere prior to taking down the power supply as with the best will in the world you are not going to be able to do a lot of hacking if the telephone and internet are offline due to the power systems being down.

Indeed, but these attacks have long been expected and therefore mitigation is in place. That makes an attack much harder to execute, though obviously not impossible.

Critical National Infrastructure attacks are increasingly expected and this could be just such an attack. However, it might just be poor planning that allowed a local incident to become a national one. Who knows? I doubt the Turks will be publicizing it if it turns out to be a malicious event.

[Whenurhappy]

The President in Turkey is accusing the 'Parallel State' (The Gullenists) of being in league with Mossad; he has implied that they are behind the widespread power cuts (rather than the obviously creaking infrastructure, a chronic lack of PQEs, very limited investment, limited domestic supply surplus - none, actually) and an atmosphere of fear, when any public official (including those in the forces) runs the risk of being arrested on the most flimsiest of evidence.

Yep, definitely a Cyber attack then.

[langleybaston]

QUOTE

Our cities are easily disrupted. Our lives easily upset - modern tills....who can still do arithmetic to keep up with modern life?

Absolutely, and not just in the present and recently.

In c. 2000, in Glenelg, Adelaide, all the main shopping drag was paralysed for trade by a power cut. The only shops managing to operate had old fashioned credit card "drag across" embossing machines. These lucky ones included a sort of grocery/general store with queues out the door.

My son is a TESCO manager. One of his nightmare scenarios is loss of electricity late at night with worse-for-wear drinkers demanding service.

[eastern wiseguy]

Northeast blackout of 2003 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sometimes there are unlikely culprits.

It was a Tree in Ohio wot done it guv.