Hackers Attack Power Grid. Sorta.

Hackers armed with computers attacked a power grid, causing an electrical turbine to spin out of control, shudder, lock up and explode in smoking ruin.

Or at least it would have, if this had been real.

The event was essentially produced by the Idaho National Laboratory for top policy makers in Washington.

"They've taken a theoretical attack and they've shown in a very demonstrable way the impact you can have using cyber means and cyber techniques against this type of infrastructure," said Amit Yoran, former U.S. cybersecurity chief for the Bush administration. Yoran is chief executive for NetWitness Corp., which sells sophisticated network monitoring software.

"It's so graphic," Yoran said. "Talking about bits and bytes doesn't have the same impact as seeing something catch fire."

My question would be; "how did a hacker cause such an event to occur?"

Call me cynical, but I have little faith in our government enough as it is and barely any trust in their motives or their objectives. Could this be a legitimate threat or more fear mongering to justify an ever-increasing budget windfall for any group involved in so-called "national security"?

The full story from Yahoo and AP