http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-30/security-firms-tie-russian-government-to-utilities-hacks
By Michael A. Riley and Jordan Robertson
Bloomberg.com
October 23, 2014
North American utilities are scouring their systems for signs of Russian
malware that the U.S. government has warned could give hackers control of
water treatment facilities and parts of the electrical grid.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued alerts about digital
attacks on utility computer systems on Oct. 8, Oct. 17 and Oct. 28. The
agency didn’t identify the country behind the hacks, but cybersecurity
firms yesterday connected them to Russia. The firms have cautioned in
recent reports that cyberspying by Russia is on the rise, and a recent
breach of an unclassified White House computer system was linked to the
Russian government or criminal hackers.
The DHS alerts said malware called BlackEnergy was used to access to
human-machine interfaces, systems utility operators use to control
critical functions. U.S. investigators haven’t detected attempts to modify
or damage those systems, according to the Oct. 28 warning, suggesting that
infiltrators were trying to gain control for later use.
“The targets are specialized systems that aren’t good sources of
intelligence collection,” said John Hultquist, senior manager for cyber
espionage threat intelligence at Dallas-based iSight Partners. “These are
the precursors of potential offensive operations.”
[...]
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