Russian Hackers Are Still Probing America's Critical Power Grid Infastructure

[WeekiWater]

Last edited Wed Dec 26, 2018, 12:21 PM - Edit history (1)

In the summer of 2016, the Department of Energy started doing something counterintuitive: It tried to hack its own network.

“To protect the grid from hackers, you need to break it,” the DOE later explained in a now-deleted post about how officials had taken the unlikely step in order to learn how to better protect it against aggressive adversaries.

The approach signaled an increasingly defensive mindset when it comes to U.S. cyber strategy that continues today. Just last month more than 100 cybersecurity experts and engineers from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) quietly worked for six days in November on a remote island off Long Island Sound to restore power to the U.S. electrical grid after it was hit with a devastating — and fictional — cyberattack.

Vice News

Someone is trying to take entire countries offline and cybersecurity experts say 'it's a matter of time because it's really easy'

The West's weakness is in the older electronics and sensors that control processes in infrastructure and industry. Often these electronics were installed decades ago. The security systems controlling them are ancient or non-existent. If a hacker can gain control of a temperature sensor in a factory, he — they're usually men — can blow the place up, or set it on fire. "The problem people don't realise is it becomes a weapon of mass destruction. You can take down a whole country. It can be done," he said.

And then, how do you respond? Does the country that was attacked — the one struggling to get its power grid back online — launch nukes? Probably not, he said, because "you have no idea who did it."

Business Insider

Russia is trying to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have flared anew after the Russian Navy fired upon and seized three Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait on November 25. In an unprecedented move, the Ukrainian Parliament subsequently enacted martial law in 10 of Ukraine’s 27 regions. According to President Petro Poroshenko, the move was warranted by the extraordinary nature of the circumstances, which represented the first open attack by Russia on the Ukrainian military.

But in truth, Russia’s latest act of aggression is neither extraordinary nor unexpected. Since the beginning of its confrontation with Ukraine in 2014, Russia has consistently followed a strategy of multi-dimensional coercion against Kyiv. This has entailed multiple attempts at subversion and destabilization via the informational, economic, and military domains.

Even before the start of the current conflict, Ukraine has been a primary target of Russian disinformation. A targeted information campaign served as the pretext for Russia’s invasion of Crimea, in which Moscow announced annexation as a measure to protect the rights of ethnic Russians in the region. Today, Russia continues to spread disinformation that paints Kyiv as an aggressor supported by fascists, and Moscow as simply responding to attack. In much the same vein, Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused President Poroshenko of provoking the recent Kerch Strait incident in an effort to boost his standing ahead of the 2019 Ukrainian elections.

Ukraine has also been the victim of countless Russian cyber operations. In late 2016, President Poroshenko declared that Russia was waging a full-fledged cyberwar against Ukraine, involving an estimated 6,500 cyber attacks within the span of two months, including hacks of Ukraine’s treasury and power grid.

The Hill

As we retreat on the world stage Putin is going on a full assault. It's war. That is not over the top. Putin is attacking the infrastructure of sovereign nations.

[duforsure]

1. And why isn't trump ranting about that?

Reporters should be asking that daily to him and the White House press people, and repeat why haven't they said or done anything to prevent this now.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. It would be SO SWEET if we could send a little warning to knock that shit off and if they persist...

ZAP THEM and knock them off the net and elec grid. Maybe for an hour. Then say, 'Get it?'

[Golden Raisin]

3. Ted Koppel has written extensively in

his book "Lights Out" about the potential for cyber attacks on our power grid, infrastructure, etc. We are apparently woefully un- and ill-prepared. It's the stuff of nightmares, or at least, loss of sleep.

[TexasBushwhacker]

4. We could have a modern, secure power grid

if we spent some of the trillions we spend on our military.

[ffr]

5. Until this one-party conservative republican rule is broken, we're vulnerable.

They want it that way.

[CousinIT]

6. "Putin is attaching the infrastructure of sovereign nations."?

What's he attaching them to?

[WeekiWater]

7. Thank you. NT

[CrispyQ]

8. They didn't think to try to hack their own network until 2016???

Really?