Thousands Of Solar Farms Vulnerable to China

I am guessing that this is just the tip of the iceberg. That by itself is scary.

Researchers discovered nearly 35,000 solar power systems from 42 vendors that have exposed management interfaces. This includes devices like power inverters, data loggers, monitors, etc.

The researchers found nearly 50 vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Most of these devices were outside the US, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a similar but different problem here (see below). The researchers discovered that more than 20,000 of these devices were already compromised. 800 of them, for example, were used to break into people’s bank accounts last year in Japan alone. Credit: Dark Reading

But that is just one example.

In another case, US energy officials are “reassessing” the risk associated with Chinese devices after “unexplained communications equipment” was found inside some of them.

While many of these devices have authorized communication channels back to control rooms, the communication channels these folks found were not disclosed. Many (or most) of these devices are made in China. What could go wrong?

For one thing, the Chinese could shut down the solar power networks. That wouldn’t be good. For another, they could destroy them.

I am sure that the government has this all figured out and fixed. (not!)

Credit: Reuters

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