Drone used in attack on US electrical grid last year, report reveals

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A US quality study has revealed that a drone was utilized successful an effort to disable an electrical substation successful Pennsylvania past year, successful the archetypal known onslaught of its kind

Technology 5 November 2021

By David Hambling

A modified user drone was utilized successful an onslaught connected an electrical substation successful the US past year, according to a study from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center.

The report, which is being circulated to instrumentality enforcement agencies successful the US, highlights the incidental astatine a substation successful Pennsylvania past twelvemonth arsenic the archetypal known usage of a drone to people vigor infrastructure successful the US. The determination isn’t specifically identified, but the drone crashed without causing damage.

The drone was modified with a trailing tether supporting a magnitude of copper wire. If the ligament had travel into interaction with high-voltage instrumentality it could person caused a abbreviated circuit, instrumentality failures and perchance fires.

The instrumentality is akin successful conception to ”blackout bombs” utilized by the US Air Force, which person nary explosive but scatter masses of conductive filaments implicit electrical equipment. These were utilized to unopen down 70 per cent of Serbia’s energy procreation capableness successful 1999 during the Kosovo war.

Electrical substations are usually protected by fences and different barriers, but Zak Kallenborn astatine the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism successful Maryland says these whitethorn not beryllium capable against drones.

“Counter-terrorism defences mostly presume a ground-based attacker. Hence the fences and bollards everywhere,” says Kallenborn. “The defences are obsolete if terrorists tin instrumentality to the air. Drones are cheap, and casual to use. Critical infrastructure facilities request to interest astir attacks from immoderate direction.”

Counter-drone jammers are deployed astatine immoderate locations but cannot support each electrical substation, owed to some outgo and limitations connected wherever they tin beryllium used. Kallenborn notes that portion specified drones lone transportation a tiny payload compared to a car bomb, they tin origin a disproportionate magnitude of harm by targeting susceptible spots.

“Critical infrastructure owners and operators request to place critical, delicate components wherever tiny charges tin origin important harm to the facility’s operation,” says Kallenborn.