[iwar] [fc:Utah.Power.tightens.security]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-12-27 21:45:26


Return-Path: <sentto-279987-4143-1009518294-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com>
Delivered-To: fc@all.net
Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 27 Dec 2001 21:46:08 -0800 (PST)
Received: (qmail 10658 invoked by uid 510); 28 Dec 2001 05:45:14 -0000
Received: from n1.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.51) by all.net with SMTP; 28 Dec 2001 05:45:14 -0000
X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-4143-1009518294-fc=all.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com
Received: from [216.115.97.165] by n1.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 28 Dec 2001 05:44:53 -0000
X-Sender: fc@red.all.net
X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com
Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_1_3); 28 Dec 2001 05:44:54 -0000
Received: (qmail 49060 invoked from network); 28 Dec 2001 05:44:54 -0000
Received: from unknown (216.115.97.172) by m11.grp.snv.yahoo.com with QMQP; 28 Dec 2001 05:44:54 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO red.all.net) (12.232.125.69) by mta2.grp.snv.yahoo.com with SMTP; 28 Dec 2001 05:44:52 -0000
Received: (from fc@localhost) by red.all.net (8.11.2/8.11.2) id fBS5jQx04197 for iwar@onelist.com; Thu, 27 Dec 2001 21:45:26 -0800
Message-Id: <200112280545.fBS5jQx04197@red.all.net>
To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List)
Organization: I'm not allowed to say
X-Mailer: don't even ask
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL3]
From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
X-Yahoo-Profile: fcallnet
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 21:45:26 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Utah.Power.tightens.security]
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Utah Power tightens security 
By Brice Wallace, Deseret News, 12/27/2001
No URL available.

Utah Power has been at a slightly higher threat alert level since the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but it could ratchet up activities if
necessary. 
Ernie Wessman, vice president of health, safety and environment for Utah
Power, told Utah regulators on Wednesday that a "careful, reasoned
approach" has been taken by the utility. 
"We're not in a mode to overreact," Wessman said. 
Utah Power is using threat level guidelines established by the North
American Electric Reliability Council but also is relying on the
experiences of parent company ScottishPower, which has dealt with
potential terrorism threats in the United Kingdom. 
The NERC guidelines have four alert levels -- normal, low, medium and
high -- and spell out definitions and recommended responses for each. 
Since Sept. 11, Utah Power has been at the "low" level. The company has
verified perimeter fencing, checked lighting, increased the number of
guards at some generation facilities and changed access arrangements,
including conducting fewer tours. 
"There are other measures -- I don't want to go into the details -- but
they help us keep track of who is there, what they're doing and what the
status of our facility is," Wessman said. 
Wessman noted that utilities' alert levels do not necessarily change
when threat warnings are issued by U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom
Ridge. He also said threat levels would remain at the "low" level for
the foreseeable future, despite advances made in Afghanistan. 
The NERC guidelines call for 35 actions when the threat level is high.
Among them are to use only essential personnel; stop mail and package
services entering the site; inspect entering vehicles; and secure
entrances and critical service facilities, perhaps by using armed
security personnel. 
The cost of the security improvements totals $1.6 million systemwide, he
said. Several factors are considered when weighing security measures to
be undertaken, he said. 
They include economics, the protection of Utah Power employees and
customers and minimizing the risk to customer service. 
But Utah Power officials noted the difficulty of determining the
appropriate measures and costs. 
"How do you know if you've done enough? There's no easy answer," said
Doug Larson, vice president of regulation. "I can assure you that we're
not going to spend any more money than it takes to defend our assets." 
If an incident were to cause an outage, Wessman said, the company could
reroute power, bring other resources online or take other action to
restore it quickly. The company has experience with outages, including
those caused by people taking potshots at transformers or even squirrels
nibbling away at lines. 
"The causes may be different in those instances, but the consequences
are the same," Wessman said.

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Send FREE Holiday eCards from Yahoo! Greetings.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/IgTaHA/ZQdDAA/ySSFAA/kgFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-12-31 21:00:00 PST