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The gridIt may be impossible to protect the North American grid against catastrophic events
Making sure the North American grid continues to operate during high-impact, low-frequency (HILF) events -- coordinated cyber and physical attacks, pandemic diseases, and high-altitude nuclear bomb detonations -- is daunting task; the North American bulk power system comprises more than 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, thousands of generation plants, and millions of digital controls; more than 1,800 entities own and operate portions of the system, with thousands more involved in the operation of distribution networks across North America
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CybersecurityBill would give the president emergency power to critical networks under attack
New bill would give the president emergency powers to protect critical private networks under attack; the president could order a patch or tell a cyber network to stop receiving incoming data from a particular country when critical infrastructure in the private sector such as the electrical grid or financial grid is threatened or attacked; the bill's sponsors insisted it does not allow the government to take control of any private cyber-network
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Power gridSolar-powered robot crawls on aging power lines to inspect the grid
The U.S. grid infrastructure has two characteristics: it is vast and it is aging; now there is a cost-effective way to examine thousands of miles of power lines: a new, solar-powered, 140-pound, six-foot-long robot; the robot uses rollers to clamp onto and move along a line; it can maneuver past towers, known as pylons, using cables built into newer towers or retrofitted onto old ones
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Aussies revamp cyberdefense strategy
The Australian federal government has decided to stop supporting AusCERT in favor of a new computer emergency response team more focused on providing an early warning system for utilities, banks, and other critical infrastructure firms
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Lookingglass named finalist for Best Cyber Security Company
Lookingglass Cyber Solutions's ScoutVision allows corporations to monitor networks and infrastructure they are not in control of, but rely upon for day-to-day operations; the company is finalist in Maryland Incubator of the Year Awards program
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Hurricane seasonAttention to design details will make buildings withstand hurricanes
One example of design ideas architects in hurricane-prone regions should follow: design buildings with square, hexagonal, or even octagonal floor plans with roofs of multiple slopes such as a four-sloped hip roof; these roofs perform better under wind forces than the gable roofs with two slopes; gable roofs are common only because they are cheaper to build; research and testing demonstrate that a 30-degree roof slope will have the best results
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DHS considers merging infrastructure protection, cybersecurity units
The connectedness between the U.S. critical infrastructure assets and the Internet steadily increases, so the missions of DHS's infrastructure protection and cybersecurity units become more intertwined as well; the department considers merging the two units
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Natural disastersOregon town plans first tsunami-resistant building on stilts
Geological findings in recent years suggest there is a one-in-three chance that in the next half century a mega-earthquake will tear the seafloor apart off the Oregon Coast; huge waves would surge onto coastal communities in as little as fifteen minutes; an Oregon city plans tsunami-resistant buildings on stilts
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InfrastructureBerkeley quake demonstration shows bridge safety ideas
Researchers demonstrate new bridge design that can withstand powerful earthquakes; the design concept relies on building segmented bridges with seismic isolators between the segments; the design would be particularly useful for long stretches of elevated freeways and high-speed rail lines that often run on elevated tracks
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InfrastructureCrack-proof concrete developed
Researchers develop crack-proof concrete; the construction industry has spent decades looking for materials that would not crack when they are used to repair and reinforce older materials, because even hairline cracks can let in pollutants and start disintegrating the concrete; BASF engineers offer a solution
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Self-healing concrete developed
University of Rhode Island researchers develop a new type of self-healing concrete that promises to be commercially viable and have added environmental benefits; a microencapsulated sodium-silicate healing agent is embedded directly into a concrete matrix; when tiny stress cracks begin to form in the concrete, the capsules rupture and release the healing agent into the adjacent areas
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Cigarette butts may be used to prevent corrosion of oil pipes
Cigarettes butts are so toxic, they kill fish; still, 4.5 trillion cigarette butts find their way into the environment each year; Chinese scientists find that chemical extracts from cigarette butts be used to protect steel pipes from rusting; rust prevention and treatment cost the oil industry millions of dollars annually
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The boom (or is it a bubble?) in federal cybersecurity
The Obama administration and Congress are allocating more funds to cybersecurity; much of that new spending, estimated at $6 to $7 billion annually just in unclassified work, is focused on the Washington region, as the federal government consolidates many of its cybersecurity-focused agencies in the area; some VCs warn of a cybersecurity bubble
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Cybersecurity summit pays little attention to control system's security
Despite threats of infrastructure attacks, scant attention was paid to control systems during a global security conference; the problem is safeguarding infrastructure's control systems against attackers is that such protection requires a different approach to securing PCs or networks; Windows-based security products will not help; says one expert: "All the devices that sense things -- temperature, pressure, flow, and things like that -- are not Windows, those are proprietary, real-time or embedded, and there's no security there"
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How to protect Times Square -- and other highly traveled areas
New Yorkers were lucky that a T-shirt vendor notices the suspicious SUV left by Faisal Shazad in Times Square, but there are ways to improve on luck in trying to secure highly traveled areas; more coordinated CCTV system, blast-mitigation, and more call boxes are a few of the measures
The Long View
Planetary securityNew ideas for deflecting Earth-threatening asteroids
As scientists use better equipment to make more accurate observations of space, they find more Earth-threatening objects loitering in Near Earth Orbit; a debate is growing as to the best method to deal with this threat
Dire climate scenario: Mass migrations and war
Lord Nicholas Stern, the eminent economist, says severe climate shifts and sea-level rises would "transform where people can live": "People would move on a massive scale. Hundreds of millions, probably billions of people would have to move if you talk about 4-, 5-, 6-degree increases" (7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit)
Good code, bad computations: A computer security vulnerability
Beware of return-oriented programming -- that is, if you want to make sure your computer or server is not tricked into undertaking malicious or undesirable behavior
Energy companies targeted by Web-borne malware
New report says the energy companies experienced more Web-based malware attacks than any other vertical market in the third quarter of this year, with an increased rate of exposure of 189 percent
Shape of things to comeNew reactor design lessens risk of weapon proliferation
Nuclear materials for power reactors cannot be stolen by those interested in using it for nuclear weapons while the material is in the reactor -- it is too hot to handle; the risks of diversion are during the enrichment process, and while the material is being transported; to lessen the risk, researchers offer innovative reactor design
