nuclear-news

USA’s power plants, including nuclear ones, attacked by Russian hackers

Feds: Russian Hackers Are Attacking U.S. Power Plants, TIME  By NASH JENKINS 16 Mar 18  Officials in Washington say that Russian hackers are in the midst of a widespread attack on crucial components of U.S. infrastructure, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report released Thursday.

The targets of these attacks include the country’s electric grid, including its nuclear power system, as well as “commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors,” the statement said.

The report is damning confirmation of what has for months been suspected: that hackers in Russia are capable of infiltrating and compromising vital systems relied on by millions of Americans. According to the new report, the attacks began at least as early as March 2016, thriving on vulnerabilities in these systems’ online operations.

………..The report cites a widely circulated investigation from Symantec released in October 2017 that linked the hacking group Dragonfly, suspected to be Russian, to a series of attacks on energy systems in the U.S. and Europe.

Bloomberg reports that victims of the attacks included a nuclear power plant located in Kansas.

The new report came on the same day that the U.S. government announced new sanctions against Russia over the country’s reported interference in the 2016 presidential election. http://time.com/5202774/russia-hacking-dhs-report-power/

March 17, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA