Here is my brother's reply:

"Thanks for the link. I sent it on to the other engineers here.

The article lacks much detail, but hacking into power grid control equipment is definitely a concern. Our control center used to be entirely hard wired to the substation control centers, but as technology has progress we are starting to use more and more local internet (intranet) connections. They all have multiple security features but if there is someone on the inside, like the article mentions, then they might be able to open up the network to the outside and allow hackers in.

We are a bit slow to replace our technology, but other larger utilities probably have made more use of intranet for their control functions. It is definitely a concern, and I expect that most utilities have active security in place to try to prevent any hacking. As with any computer security though, there may be a loophole or some access that the system operators don’t know about that the hackers can exploit. Just like taking out a big internet site, I’m sure a hacker would love to be able to take credit for shutting down a city."

In other words, "Yep, it's possible."

-Blast