[ISN] Security Lacking at Major Canada Power Plants - TV

[InfoSec News]

Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk at c4i.org>

http://www.metronews.ca/reuters_national.asp?id=56498

February 16, 2005

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Security at two of Canada's most important 
electricity generating plants is so lax that terrorists would have no 
trouble at all getting in, according to a television report.

A team from the French-language RDI channel wandered around the 
Manic-5 and Robert Bourrassa hyrdo-electric plants in the remote James 
Bay area of French-speaking Quebec without seeing a single security 
guard.

The plants, linked to a series of giant dams, supply power to Quebec 
and the north-eastern United States.

In a special report, which was aired on Tuesday night, the RDI team 
drove in an unmarked van to the center of the Robert Bourassa 
generating station. They then passed through an unlocked door and made 
their way to the control panels without once being challenged.

The plants are run by provincially-owned Hydro Quebec, which went to 
court on Tuesday to seek an injunction preventing RDI from showing the 
report on security grounds.

Hydro-Quebec president Andre Caille said in a statement he was 
troubled by the RDI report, adding that "we are taking all the means 
at our disposal to ensure the security of our installations."

The RDI team, which filmed the report last week, said they had not 
spotted a single close-circuit camera. At one point a reporter was 
seen scaling a gate near a major dam without being challenged.



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