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Physical attacks on the power grid are also a big concern. In 2013, there was a sophisticated, multi-person attack on a large Bay Area electrical substation. The attackers cut fibre optic cables and shot transformers, causing $15 million of damage. It's unknown who did this or why.
A practice run based on this most likely
Chickens. Roost. Etc.
I guess the thing to say is this: our technical, electrical, and other modern infrastructure seems to be in similar state to our roads and bridges -- it was once very good, but after a generation of cheaping out on investments and not managing or maintaining it appropriately, it's full of problems and cracks.
So whatever your opinion about roads, it's probably appropriate here too -- and for much of modern infrastructure.
I don't think that's entirely accurate. It's not like the assets decayed due to lack of maintenance; they're more or less the same as they always were. It's just that they were never built to handle security requirements that are now required.
Half of those security requirements wouldn't even be requirements if they'd stop being lazy and quit relying upon the internet for everything. Actual human presence at sufficient levels to ensure operation and security, at all times. Voice verification up the chain, airgapped. Sure it's slow but it works and doesn't leave your critical infrastructure open to easy attack.
This sort of communication should not be on the internet. Power companies already have infrastructure to run their own dedicated comms. This is just plain stupid.
Stories like these remind me of the pilot of the "new" Battlestar Galactica (2004), in which the modern info systems have been compromised prior to the initial attack and everything except the oldest fighters goes dark immediately.
The US blackout of 2003 caused a fair amount of economic losses (mostly spoiled food due to dead refrigeration) and ~12 deaths (about 0.00003% of the affected people). It was a minor annoyance and life goes on. I'm hoping that's the most these hackers would be able to do.
The question is, at what point does the hacker threat turn from a minor annoyance like this, where for most people life is back to normal in a few hours - days, to a serious threat to our civilization -- can they keep the network down long enough that food and fuel production / distribution is affected to the point that 1%, 10%, 50% of the affected population dies? Can they permanently destroy so many generators / wires / transformers so that available repair crews and equipment stockpiles are exhausted and entire towns are without power for months? Can they send massive over-voltages over power lines to destroy all plugged-in electronic devices in every home and business, and create widespread explosions and fires at the push of a button?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003
> "Can they send massive over-voltages over power lines to destroy all plugged-in electronic devices in every home and business, and create widespread explosions and fires at the push of a button?"
No, that's isn't how it works.
I don't get why they would bother actually using a controlled website to actually distribute malware. It seems more valuable to just sit on it to collect user information. Eventually on of those websites will also do something unsound like storing passwords as plain text, or a vulnerability that can get you the passwords will come up.