DHS: Russian hackers got into control rooms of US utilities

[steve2470]

Source: The Hill

Russian hackers were able to penetrate the control rooms of hundreds of U.S. utilities last year as part of a campaign against power company vendors that could be ongoing, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told the Journal that hackers working for a state-sponsored group known as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear were able to get inside the networks of U.S. utilities to the point that they could have disrupted power service and caused blackouts.

“They got to the point where they could have thrown switches” said Jonathan Homer, chief of industrial-control-system analysis for DHS.

The department did not disclose which companies were victimized by the hacks, but indicated there were hundreds affected by the breach. Other companies reportedly may still be unaware they were part of the breach because the hackers may have broke in using employee credentials.



Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/398480-dhs-russian-hackers-got-into-control-rooms-of-us-utilities

[Sherman A1]

1. Yup,

but this has been going on for a long time.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. I just finished posting this in the Economy Forum, and I thought it deserved to be in LBN.

Thanks for selling us out, tRump.

This will be in tomorrow's print edition. I'll make sure to get it.

Russian Hackers Reach U.S. Utility Control Rooms, Homeland Security Officials Say

Blackouts could have been caused after the networks of trusted vendors were easily penetrated

Officials of the Department of Homeland Security said hackers have reached the control rooms of U.S. electric utilities.

By Rebecca Smith
July 23, 2018 7:21 p.m. ET

Hackers working for Russia claimed “hundreds of victims” last year in a giant and long-running campaign that put them inside the control rooms of U.S. electric utilities where they could have caused blackouts, federal officials said. They said the campaign likely is continuing.

The Russian hackers, who worked for a shadowy state-sponsored group previously identified as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear, broke into supposedly secure, “air-gapped” or isolated networks owned by utilities with relative ease by first penetrating the networks of key vendors who had trusted relationships with the power companies, said officials at the Department of Homeland Security. ... “They got to the point where they could have thrown switches” and disrupted power flows, said Jonathan Homer, chief of industrial-control-system analysis for DHS.

DHS has been warning utility executives with security clearances about the Russian group’s threat to critical infrastructure since 2014. But the briefing on Monday was the first time that DHS has given out information in an unclassified setting with as much detail. It continues to withhold the names of victims but now says there were hundreds of victims, not a few dozen as had been said previously.

It also said some companies still may not know they have been compromised, because the attacks used credentials of actual employees to get inside utility networks, potentially making the intrusions more difficult to detect.
....

Write to Rebecca Smith at [e-mail]

Appeared in the July 24, 2018, print edition as 'Russia Hacks Its Way Into U.S. Utilities.'

[PoliticAverse]

3. Ted Koppel wrote a book on this topic... Lights Out...

http://www.tedkoppellightsout.com/

[YOHABLO]

4. Well let's see, they shut down the power grid and Trump declares marshal law ..hmm just sayin.

[woundedkarma]

6. Worse...

Russia invades the U.S and right before they do, they shut down the power grid. No cellphones, no television, no internet... only thing that might work at that point is the radio.

They spread fear and chaos throughout the country. We have a traitor in charge which might be worse than no leader at all. Our allies hate us now.

At best we end up as the next Syria. Nobody left to raise their hand to help us and they'd all be laughing at us anyway. FINALLY the U.S. got what it deserves ...

Pretty much the scariest scenario I can picture. I think nuclear war is less scary... at least you die relatively quick that way... it would be much worse to live 20-30 years under russian occupation.

Edit to add another thought... best case, they shut down the powergrid and we end up like Puerto Rico.

[procon]

5. Down goes the electrical grid and down goes everything.

Communications systems will be very limited or gone entirely. Transportation, infrastructure, public services, water and sewage, gas, all out.

Then what? Can Russia cause a nationwide electrical overload that would cripple the whole country for weeks or months?

Then what? Can Russia just invade while everything is down and no one is the wiser until new flags appear over government buildings?

[BamaRefugee]

8. They won't invade at that point

They'll wait until Americans turn into crazed, starving animals..it's not like you can use your credit card or ATM to buy food, and if there IS any food, there won't have been refrigeration for weeks. And your stove won't be working either. Oh and you can't wash it off because municipal pumping systems won't be running.
They'll wait til we've practically done a self-genocide, then walk right in.
HOROSHO KOMRADES!

[hughee99]

11. Does a power outage shut down the US military?

I have a feeling that the US military is at least as prepared as my neighbor is for a power outage. I wouldn't bet on a Russian invasion during an outage.

[Whiskeytide]

7. So, would a carefully targeted series of blackouts...

... have an impact on electronic voting machines? Would they have to close precincts because the lights were out?

There’s no reason to do this unless (1) you’re planning an invasion (which is plainly ridiculous), or (2) you’re planning some well timed chaos by knocking out some infrastructure.

Not that I’m into CTs, mind you. But Interesting possibilities, huh?

[pangaia]

9. The whole idea of disrupting the elecdtrig grid seems , to me anyway, so freakin simple.

heck, ANYBODY could blow up one of the towers that carries electricity from Niagara Falls in a heartbeat,'I mean-- with a couple stick of dynamite EVEN I as in I, ME little ole PANGAIA could do it.

Of course I won't..... JUST IN CASE the American CHEKA is watching DU...

[Roland99]

10. "Dark Ages"

[Raastan]

12. Yep, my thoughts too

[Hekate]

13. KnR

[jalan48]

14. Wow. This is worse than when they were Communists.

[Marcuse]

16. They were pretty much CINOs after Lenin and Trotsky.

[Amaryllis]

15. Both Coats and Rosenstein have said our digital infrastructure is under attack. Richard Clark

has been warning about this for years.

[LiberalFighter]

17. And DT allowed it to happen.