This is a very big dealâŠand of course, another big destabilizing factor. Hereâs a CNET article which quotes and pulls from the WSJ you posted. Because WSJ has a paywall, I included this.
Russian hackers accessed US electric utilitiesâ control rooms
by
Steven Musil
July 24, 2018 10:30 AM PDT
Hackers working for Russia were able to gain access to the control rooms of US electric utilities last year, allowing them to cause blackouts, federal officials tell the Wall Street Journal.
The hackers â working for a state-sponsored group previously identified as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear â broke into utilitiesâ isolated networks by hacking networks belonging to third-party vendors that had relationships with the power companies, the Department of Homeland Security said in a press briefing on Monday.
Officials said the campaign had claimed âhundreds of victimsâ and is likely continuing, the Journal reported.
âThey got to the point where they could have thrown switchesâ to disrupt the flow power, Jonathan Homer, chief of industrial-control-system analysis for DHS, told the Journal.
âWhile hundreds of energy and non-energy companies were targeted, the incident where they gained access to the industrial control system was a very small generation asset that would not have had any impact on the larger grid if taken offline,â the DHS said in a statement Tuesday. âOver the course of the past year as we continued to investigate the activity, we learned additional information which would be helpful to industry in defending against this threat.â
Organizations running the nationâs energy, nuclear and other critical infrastructure have become frequent targets for cyberattacks in recent years due to their ability to cause immediate chaos, whether itâs starting a blackout or blocking traffic signals. These systems are often vulnerable because of antiquated software and the high costs of upgrading infrastructure.
The report comes amid heightened tension between Russia and the US over cybersecurity. Earlier this month, US special counsel Robert Mueller filed charges against 12 Russian hackers tied to cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee.
Hackers compromised US power utility companiesâ corporate networks with conventional approaches, such as spear-phishing emails and watering-hole attacks, which target a specific group of users by infecting websites theyâre known to visit, the newspaper reported. After gaining access to vendor networks, hackers turned their attention to stealing credentials for access to the utility networks and familiarizing themselves with facility operations, officials said, according to the Journal.
Homeland Security didnât identify the victims, the newspaper reports, adding that some companies may not know they had been compromised because the attacks used legitimate credentials to gain access to the networks.
Cyberattacks on electrical systems arenât an academic matter. In 2016, Ukraineâs grid was disrupted by cyberattacks attributed to Russia, which is engaged in territorial disputes with the country over eastern Ukraine and the Crimean peninsula. Russia has denied any involvement in targeting critical infrastructure.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in May designed to bolster the United Statesâ cybersecurity by protecting federal networks, critical infrastructure and the public online. One section of the order focuses on protecting utilities grids like electricity and water, as well as financial, health care and telecommunications systems.
ï»żï»żThe Department of Homeland Security didnât respond to a request for comment.