Blackout '03: An Invitation To Terrorists?

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What is unclear is whether the current generation of terrorists has the computer skills to wage digital warfare on the power grid. The Washington Post reported last year that al-Qaeda computers seized in Afghanistan had logged on to sites offering tips for cracking computers that control an electrical system. But Seifert says a terrorist would need years of tinkering and top skills to break into the proprietary computers of most U.S. utilities. And terrorism experts like Hoffman think disrupting the power supply is too unspectacular a ploy to appeal to terrorists, since it produces no dramatic bloodshed. Yet the risk is that after seeing the havoc of last week's blackout, plotting a sequel might just prove too tempting for terrorists to resist. --By Johanna McGeary. Reported by Simon Crittle/New York, Broward Liston/Orlando, Eric Roston and Michael Weisskopf/Washington