In view of the recent events that affected the Venezuelan electrical system, Tatuy Tv called upon researcher Leandro León to learn about and understand the functioning of computer systems, which currently control a large part of the services we use in our daily lives. How is a system affected; is it possible to sabotage a system of this type? What are the necessary elements to successfully complete a sabotage operation? What type of vulnerabilities does the Venezuelan electrical system have? These were some of the concerns answered by our guest in this new edition of EntreVISTAS.
León, who is an expert in programming who participated as a patriot in PDVSA’s process of brain recovery during the 2002 coup, explains that any computer system can fail despite its level of sophistication, and emphasizes that violating it is relatively easy. He explains: “the first phase is the gathering of information to identify vulnerabilities, the second is to gain access, then you gain control, and once you have access and control of the system, you can then begin subversive operations, sabotage…”.
There are certain elements to take into account in the Venezuelan case, which would indicate significant vulnerabilities, our interviewee states that 90% of security incidents that occur in the world are generated by internal complicity and / or with the installation of devices that allow access to the system. In addition, the fact that the attack could have been carried out from Houston or Chicago, indicates a critical level of vulnerability, since a system like this one with the high value it has for the national electrical network, must not have by any means access to the Internet, the preferred space for this particular type of operations.
There were many coincidences between the sabotage operation carried out and the criminal action that led to the sabotage of PDVSA in 2002, most critically the dependence on foreign systems. It is necessary to insist on efforts being made by the national government to develop mechanisms that allow for the sovereign management of our services and resources.
