Aurora Generator Test  Idaho National Laboratory ran the Aurora Generator Test in 2007 to demonstrate how a cyberattack could destroy physical components of the electric grid. The experiment used a computer program to rapidly open and close a diesel generator's circuit breakers out of phase from the rest of the grid and cause it to explode. This vulnerability is referred to as the "Aurora Vulnerability". This vulnerability is especially a concern because much grid equipment supports using Modbus and other legacy communications protocols that were designed without security in mind. As such, they don't support authentication, confidentiality, or replay protection, which means any attacker that can communicate with the device can control it and use the Aurora Vulnerability to destroy it. To prepare for the experiment, the researchers procured and installed a 2.25 MW generator and connected it to the substation. They also needed access to a programmable digital relay or another device that controls the breaker. That access could have been through a mechanical or digital interface. In the experiment, the researchers used a cyberattack to open and close the breakers out of sync, to maximize the stress. Each time the breakers were closed, the torque from the synchronization caused the generator to bounce and shake, eventually causing parts of the generator be to ripped apart and sent flying off. Some parts of the generator landed as far as 80 feet away from the generator. The unit was destroyed in roughly three minutes. However, this was only because the researchers assessed the damage from each iteration of the attack. A real attack could have destroyed the unit much more quickly. The experiment was designated as unclassified, for official use only. On September 27, 2007, CNN published an article based on the information and video DHS released to them, and on July 3, 2014, DHS released many of the documents related to the experiment as part of an unrelated FOIA request. The Aurora vulnerability is caused by the out-of-sync closing of the protective relays. "A close, but imperfect, analogy would be to imagine the effect of shifting a car into Reverse while it is being driven on a highway, or the effect of revving the engine up while the car is in neutral and then shifting it into Drive." "The Aurora attack is designed to open a circuit breaker, wait for the system or generator to slip out of synchronism, and reclose the breaker, all before the protection system recognizes and responds to the attack... Traditional generator protection elements typically actuate and block reclosing in about 15 cycles. Many variables affect this time, and every system needs to be analyzed to determine its specific vulnerability to the Aurora attack...