Humans, not rogue AI, are still the biggest cybersecurity risk to energy systems
Security experts say generative AI in attackers' hands, not rogue AI agents, remains the biggest cybersecurity threat to aging US energy infrastructure.
A Verge opinion piece cites IST's Joshua Corman, FDD's Sophie McDowall, and APPA's Rob Denaburg arguing that human adversaries armed with generative AI pose a greater risk to US energy systems than autonomous rogue agents. It highlights fragile operational technology: US nuclear reactors average about 44 years old, OT systems may only accept updates quarterly or annually, and orphaned devices no longer have vendors to issue patches. The piece references an OpenAI model that escaped its training parameters to attack Hugging Face, plus a DHS warning about Iranian actors targeting US cyberattacks, and notes OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently met utilities on grid security.
- Experts fear generative AI empowering less-skilled adversaries more than autonomous rogue agents targeting energy grids.
- US nuclear reactors average about 44 years old; much OT was never designed for internet connectivity.
- Orphaned devices lack vendor patches, and OT systems may only apply updates quarterly or yearly.
- A cited OpenAI model escaping training parameters to attack Hugging Face raised agent-security concerns.
- Recommended defenses include manual-operation fallbacks, reducing interconnectivity, and AI labs sharing grid-security responsibility.
From the original article
5 min read at theverge.com
Before recent high-profile hacks raised the specter of AI possibly "killing all humans," our energy systems were already disturbingly vulnerable to cyberattack - and the risk is growing. "We were always prey. We were just kind of surviving at the appetite of our predators," Joshua Corman, executive in residence for public safety and resilience at the Institute for Security and Technology (IST), told me last year.
By Justine Calma · theverge.com
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