BLACK HAT USA – Las Vegas – Gaping security holes in wind energy control networks make them vulnerable to cyberattacks for extortion and physical destruction purposes, a researcher showed here today.

Jason Staggs, a security researcher at the University of Tulsa, has spent the past couple of years crisscrossing the US and hacking away at the control systems that run the wind turbines that convert wind energy into electrical power. He did so with the blessing of operators of the wind farms, who allowed him to test the security of a single turbine at their sites and with the stipulation he would not disclose the names, locations, or products involved for security reasons.