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Large power supplier vulnerable to ‘any knowledgeable hacker’

A federal utility powering a third of the Pacific Northwest is vulnerable to computer breaches. An Energy Department audit found the Bonneville Power Administra...

Federal News Network Staff

April 4, 2012 5:57 pm

< a min read

A federal utility powering a third of the Pacific Northwest is vulnerable to computer breaches.

An Energy Department audit found the Bonneville Power Administration, which services hospitals, banks, and critical military installations accounts for 30 percent of the region’s power, according to a Nextgov report.

Before the audit, any knowledgeable hacker could have taken complete control of the utility because it used weak passwords. But computer security researchers told Nextgov the problems at Bonneville are not unusual.

This story is part of Federal News Radio’s daily Cybersecurity Update. For more cybersecurity news, click here.