by Jack Strain
A DDOS attack used pre-planted malware viruses to overwhelm individual utility internal networks, denied connections within the network, turned off the auto controls and prevented the various substations from feeding their transmissions into the distribution grid. Then a “wiper” virus was activated and began wiping critical transmission codes within the main network to prevent the substations from reconnecting after the malware virus was identified and neutralized. Simple, but effective.
Samen was about to record a quick video to upload along with a copy of the Khomeini 79 malware virus so that his brothers around the globe could use it to strike the Americans and their Jew lackeys. He was just about to reach for his laptop when powerful twin explosions ripped through the simple one-story cement block structure. One would have been enough, but each Hellfire missile exploded within seconds of one another sending a dark billowing cloud of flames and debris high into the sky.
Neither his uncle nor aunt nor their four children nor Samen Khorasani felt a thing as their bodies were literally ripped into pieces. Special Ops soldiers would later be sent to the target site to collect any technical intelligence, but the laptop was shattered and sprinkled across the rocky terrain. Even if they did find something, it would be too late.
Unbeknownst to anyone giving one another high fives at Nellis Air Force Base or analysts in Fort Meade, the Islamic Republic of Iran had just struck back, and it came in the form of a keystroke.
Chapter Twenty Six
Pennsylvania Power & Light Headquarters, Allentown, PA
Yolanda Johnson, a smart, hard-working mother of three went to night school for three years to help secure an important promotion as a Systems Monitor. She had eagle eyes and good instincts in the control room. She quickly mastered PP&L’s grid management system and within six months was promoted to manage the power transmission network for the greater Scranton region. More than a quarter million people relied on her good judgment.
Glancing up at the clock, she noted that it was 4:30. One more hour to quitting time. As was her habit, she scrolled through doing systems checks every hour or so even though the system had multiple system alerts built into the software. Okay now, what am I making for dinner tonight? Lord, I hope that man of mine took that chicken out ‘cause I damn sure don’t want to have to hit the supermarket on the . . . BEEP . . . BEEP . . . BEEP. . .
A warning alert came on her screen as the system locked her out. Always a bit distrustful of PP&L’s sometimes quirky operating system, she began working through several inputs that worked in the past, but this time the system still locked her out. Annoyed, Yolanda quickly took out the handy training manual that she kept in a binder nearby and started scrolling through the paperwork trying to figure out how to unlock the system. More aggravated than worried, she started the reboot process.
****ACCESS DENIED****
She tried again.
****ACCESS DENIED****
She said the words aloud and shook her head and started getting a feeling that something was not right. Then she heard the sounds from other co-workers. Some cursed while others started yelling out asking if anyone else was locked out. Picking up the phone, Yolanda contacted tech support but couldn’t get through.
Unknown to Yolanda or anyone else at PP&L Utilities corporate headquarters, substations serving the Scranton transmission area began going offline. Emergency stop orders went into effect at dozens of power transformers which distribute high voltage power, and to the distribution transformers that direct electricity to the user. One after the other they went offline and by five o’clock, the beginning of rush hour, the entire Scranton region was in the dark.
Office buildings went black sending surprised workers into the streets and stranding dozens of panicked people caught in elevators unable to escape. Hospitals went into their emergency protocols. Loud diesel-fueled backup generators started kicking in sending vaporous white steam into the cooling night air. Non-essential patients were asked to leave; those who couldn’t were being consolidated on a few floors. Almost as disconcerting for the hospital as the loss of electricity was a dramatic drop in water pressure as pump stations for water distribution began to fail across the region adding to the sense of unease. Wi-Fi towers with their battery backups still worked but did little good if smartphones couldn’t get a charge.
Some traffic lights equipped with either battery backups or solar power continued to work, but others went down causing dozens of minor accidents around the region. The local road net soon became a mess as dozens of accidents created massive traffic jams throughout the region. Many motorists were forced to leave their vehicles and either head back to their place of work or nearby community centers, even churches, hoping for the best or they decided to brave the early fall chill and trek to their homes.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, tens of thousands of Scrantonians wondered when the power would come back. As the prospects of a night without power became a reality, fear slowly crept into the “Electric City,” as Scranton has been known for a hundred years. The Electric City was not alone as fifteen million Americans were suddenly thrust back to the 19th Century. Few would sleep easy this night.
NBC News Special Report: “America Goes Dark”
“Thank you for joining us on the eleven o’clock hour, I am Melanie Keane, and this is an NBC News Special Report. Tonight, NBC News is reporting that twelve U.S. cities have been struck by some form of a cyber attack. Several cities are completely in the dark while others continue to report only partial disruption of service.
“Let’s quickly run through those affected cities. In Pennsylvania, Scranton remains in the dark while Harrisburg is partially blacked out. In New York, the cities of Corning and Binghamton report partial blackouts while Buffalo is completely in the dark. In Ohio, major parts of the city of Cleveland are experiencing power outages while power is completely out in Akron and Youngstown. In Michigan, Detroit’s electric grid has been totally shut down while nearby Flint remains partially out of service. Lastly, we are just now getting reports that Gary, Indiana’s electric grid - which is tied very closely to the much larger grid in Chicago - is also out, and the Windy City is now reporting rolling blackouts in major portions of the city.
“Already social media has been overloaded with millions of posts along with numerous images of accidents, massive traffic jams, scenes of violence, and even looting in several cities. People are scared. People are angry. People want answers.
“Hopefully, we can get some of those answers from our own White House correspondent Callie Jenkins who just got out of a . . . I think ‘contentious’ is the word . . . impromptu press conference at the White House. Callie, can you give us an update?”
Standing in front of a backlit White House, Callie began, “Thanks, Melanie. I would say ‘contentious’ is the right word. White House press Secretary Sally Mercer seemed frustrated by the tough questions and ended the press conference abruptly, leaving many of my colleagues and the American public in the dark about what the administration was doing to fix the problem.”
The widely-respected news journalist and broadcast anchor seemed to pause for a slight moment, trying to word the next question just right. Melanie then asked pointedly, “Callie, it sure looked to me like the administration was caught completely off-guard and the earlier briefing by Homeland Security Secretary Dietrich seemed to only make matters worse. Fifteen million Americans are without power, and the rest of the country is wondering if they are next. Did you get a sense that the administration has a handle on the situation?”
“That’s just it, Melanie. Mercer was not able to answer most of the questions tonight and her short statement basically restating the president’s message for calm didn’t seem to help.”
“Let’s start there. Where’s the president? Why hasn’t he addressed the American people yet? Some are suggesting, and I have heard it myself from a ranking administration official, that the president is overwhelmed and not able to handle the pressure. What
are you hearing?”
Callie Jenkins emphatically nodded her head in agreement. “Press Secretary Mercer must have been asked that question three separate times before she seemed to completely lose her temper. We were told that the president would address the American people after all the facts were in and at a time of his choosing. The one thing we did learn was that this cyber attack was attributed to the Iranian Cyber Army, though the White House announced its founder and leader was killed during an airstrike. Whether or not that means the chance of further attacks is less likely is impossible to say at this time.”
“Thanks, Callie for the update. Now let’s turn to NBC’s team of reporters out in the affected cities. Ron Allen is reporting live from Detroit. What’s the situation, Ron?”
Chapter Twenty Seven
October 18th
The White House Situation Room
It was literally standing room only as all the seats around the conference table were taken, as well as, the dual rows of seats on either side of the room. The principals only National Security Council meeting today included ranking members from both parties. To describe the atmosphere as grave would not be doing justice to the tension that every man and woman felt to their core.
Yesterday, the United States of America was attacked. No planes crashed into buildings, no bombs exploded, yet Americans died. Others were wounded. The power was down in a dozen cities. The stock market was shut down to avoid a financial meltdown. People were scared, demanding answers; demanding answers from the men and women in this very room, from their president. And at the moment no one had any answers.
FBI Director Terrance Bowman received the nod from the National Intelligence Director to begin the briefing. In the job for less than a year, the relatively young former Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security under Bush 43 took over the Bureau less than a year ago amid scandal associated with the election of 2016. He was considered by many to be an expert in cybersecurity and had been expanding the FBI’s capabilities to hunt down and prosecute cyber crimes, as well as those impacting national security. He had been warning about the danger of a cyber-attack like this for years.
Standing tall, Bowman’s sandy blonde hair and youthful good looks had often been the subject of light-hearted banter at these meetings, but not today. Bowman’s voice betrayed his real sense of alarm but was tempered by his years as an experienced briefer. “Mr. President, Senators, Representatives, and council members, good morning. Director Cushing asked the Bureau to take the lead on this attack even though we have now confirmed this attack originated from Iran.
“As many of you are already aware, Iranian cyber capabilities were always considered a significant threat, and the FBI in coordination with the National Security Agency and DoD’s Cyber Command has been on the lookout for cyber-attacks against our infrastructure. Since the conflict began, we have logged thousands of attempted penetrations of both civilian and government targets but at roughly 4:30 yesterday afternoon the first successful attack took place at the PP&L Utility in Allentown and took down the Scranton region.
“What we now know is that a malware virus had been inserted months ago in a number of targeted utility networks primarily in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Secretary of Homeland Security Dietrich formally established a task force of a dozen agencies that are now pooling resources along with private cybersecurity companies to address this situation. I can report with confidence that no other utility in the nation has reported that their networks are compromised by this particular malware virus. However that is not to say that there are no other viruses in play.
“Also, we have determined that this cyber attack is similar to the one that took out the Kiev power grid two years ago, though much more sophisticated. It is called Khomeini 79, obviously named for the founder of the Islamic Republic and the revolution he launched in 1979. Unlike in Kiev where their power infrastructure was so dated, switching to manual controls was much easier to initiate after the auto controls were shut down. Here in the States the reliance on automatic controls to regulate the flow of electricity and the partial introduction of smart grids are actually working against us at the moment.”
Clearly dispirited, President Wolfe interrupted and asked in an exasperated tone, “So what the hell does this all mean? Can we get the power on or not?”
Secretary Dietrich answered quickly, “Mr. President, you are not going to like it, but the short answer is not right away.”
“What the hell does that mean, ‘not right away’?”
FBI Director Bowman then answered, “Mr. President, unlike conventional styled attacks, we simply don’t know if there are other viruses put in place and hidden within these utilities’ networks. We must certify with an absolute degree of confidence that these networks are no longer compromised or who knows how far this could spread. This takes time.”
A loud, gruff voice interrupted, “Time is the one thing we don’t have Director Bowman. Millions of Americans are without power and losing confidence in their government every moment the goddamn lights don’t come on. So, what’s the bottom line?”
The voice of the president’s special counsel, Baxter Davis, was rarely welcomed at the NSC meetings, but everyone in the room knew his views carried serious weight with the president, now more than ever.
Bowman knew the question would be coming and decided before the meeting began not to pull any punches. He looked right at Baxter and without any hesitation said, “The bottom line is this. Minimum 48 hours to certify the networks are secure and up to another 72 hours to reload the auto control codes that were wiped by the secondary virus. Work crews from a dozen states are converging on the affected cities. Manual overrides are being attempted wherever possible, but best-case-scenario is five days to a week. Worst case for some could be as much as two weeks or longer.”
A loud collective groan erupted as a dozen people in the room tried to speak at once. President Wolfe’s face dropped into his hands and his head was shaking side to side. He looked as if the wind had been knocked out of him. The generals were worried about the impacts on the war effort, the law enforcement types in the room focused on civil unrest, the politicians and president’s handlers were calculating the political fallout, and the intelligence folks wondered what was next.
However, it was the loud voice of the House Minority Leader who rose above all the others. Representative Connie Perino had been wearing a mask of pure bitterness and resentment from the moment she walked into the meeting. She was clearly no fan of this President and one of only 23 representatives who voted against the war.
“Mr. President, this is all your fault. Millions of Americans are without power, some for up two weeks, one of our ships sunk, thousands of people dead - including women and children. Have you seen the burned bodies piled up? I want to vomit knowing that our country did this. And for what? Revenge for your daughter - on the whole Muslim world. How many more Americans will die in the days to come? Tell me that, Mr. President.”
Baxter Davis immediately came to his feet and exploded, “How dare you speak to the president like this! Who the hell do you think you are?”
Perino was no woman to be trifled with by anyone, let alone a political hack like Davis, and she fired back, “Who the hell do I think I am? Who the hell do you think you are, Baxter? You are nothing but a peddler of right-wing nonsense. And by the way, I am an elected member of Congress who has represented my district for three decades, and I will talk to the president in any manner that I choose.”
Chief of Staff Dutch Schultz let things play out. He wanted his friend to get an earful of bad news and especially enjoyed watching the tough as nails former Speaker lay out Baxter, but now was the time to take back control. Rising from his seat and holding up his arms to try to quiet the room, Schultz spoke firmly, “Okay folks, enough. We need to calm things down. None of this will fix the problem at hand. Representative Peroni, you are here as a courtesy, so I must insist that we bring the meeting to order and determine a co
urse of action to deal with the matter at hand.”
Peroni took a deep breath and started to sit but was struck again at the arrogance in this room and couldn’t help but add a parting word. “Oh, I hear you, Dutch - I’m a guest today. But seriously, how much longer do you think the American people will back this horror show of yours? I really want to know.”
Dutch was about to answer when suddenly the president came to his feet and leveled a dark, angry gaze at Peroni and said in a deeply menacing tone, “Horror show? You think THIS is a horror show? Let me tell you about a real horror show. When I watched my Liliana die gasping and shaking on the ground crying out for me to help. That was a horror show, Congresswoman Peroni. You may hate me, and you may despise everything that I am doing, but I don’t give a damn what you or any other pansy-assed liberal thinks about any of this.”
Eyes went wide as the men and women in the room were shocked - and some a bit appalled - at the president’s words. Peroni herself looked taken aback.
President Wolfe continued, “I meant every word in my address to Congress the other night. I am the only President with the balls to tell the world to go to hell, and I won’t apologize to anyone, let alone you.”
He was practically yelling at this point. His eyes blazed bright red, and spittle came from his mouth as he violently slammed the table and roared, “Have I made myself clear? This is a real war on terror and if I have to use terror to fight terror then so be it.”
Then he stared straight across the conference table at the strong-willed former Speaker and said, “Real Americans will back me no matter what, and as for anyone else, I really don’t give a damn. And as for the rest of you, I don’t care how you do it but figure out a way to get the power back on and keep me updated on what’s going on in Syria. I want that bastard Rahami’s head on a fucking platter, and I want it yesterday.”