Recently it was announced that “hackers, possibly from abroad, executed an attack on a Northwest rail company’s computers that disrupted railway signals for two days.” The railroads and TSA are saying that this was not a “dedicated” attack.

Our Comment: Whether this was a “dedicated” attack or not, it does show that there are other vulnerabilities that are available to disrupt the vital rail infrastructure (besides IED’s). One other area that may show up is Electronic Warfare, i.e. operations in a jamming environment. Much like cyber attacks it would force the rails to operate in the 1950 mode, slowing down the rail system.