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Nation-sponsored hackers have penetrated the operational networks multiple US and European energy companies use to control key parts of the power grid that supplies electricity to hundreds of millions of people, researchers warned Wednesday.
The incursions detected by security firm Symantec represent a dramatic escalation by a hacking group dubbed Dragonfly, which has been waging attacks against US and European energy companies since at least 2011. In 2014, Symantec reported that Dragonfly was aggressively establishing beachheads in a limited number of target networks, mainly by stealing the user names and passwords used to restrict access to legitimate personnel. Over the past year, the hacking group has managed to compromise dozens of energy firms and, in a handful of cases, install backdoors in the highly sensitive networks the firms use to supply power to the grid.
[...] After this Ars post went live, several security professionals with expertise in electric grids downplayed the likelihood of the operational network compromises being used to cause blackouts or take down parts of the grid. Robert Lee, the founder and CEO of Dragos Security, said the hackers would need more than the mere ability to control human machine interfaces that flip switches and open and close breakers. While he said an attack that mimicked the techniques that disrupted Ukrainian power in 2015 was possible, he said differences in the US grid would make those tactics much less effective.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by anubi on Monday September 11 2017, @06:09AM
Remember it is you government guys which have fomented this mess - starting with legislating ignorance so kids could not listen to music unless someone else got paid on their terms.
This far into the game, how our computational infrastructure works should be as common of knowledge as how our house is wired or plumbed.
When I was in high school, 50 years ago, I knew exactly how my radio worked, what voltage and signals to expect on every grid and plate in it.
The internet by now should be as common of knowledge as to how to use the post office.
Its a terrible mess now, with "businessmen" of all sorts colluding to take over our machines behind our back, in secret, for marketing purposes or to enforce their wishlist of wildly imaginable terms of how we can use our purchase after we bought it.
Its a big royal mess right now, where "businessmen" of the internet have the power to covertly remote-control and snoop damn near any computer on the internet. No one is secure. Not even Equifax ( as has been demonstrated ). You guys have written the law that protects the business models to do this kind of thing. Ignorance is NOT bliss!
Thanks to the intervention of the Congress of the United States of America, we are raising up a digital generation that has no idea of what's safe to eat and what's not - and the internet is full of strychnine-laced candy, and we have few ways of telling what's safe to even look at.
No one, not even you, has the power to mandate that Congresssmen bear a Personal Responsibility for the law they pass. If I were to dig a hole in my front yard, and someone gets hurt in it, I am responsible. Who do we hold responsible for a whole generation of people who have no idea how their stuff works? Who do we hold responsible for people getting malware from just opening a document or spreadsheet, or simply visiting the wrong website?
If the Congress of the United States of America deems it illegal for me to see where I am going, should they be held liable if I drive while lawfully blindfolded? If the Congress of the United States of America deems it illegal to "reverse engineer" the instructions fed to my computer, should they be held liable for malicious code?
I believe the Congress of the United States of America has been delegated far more authority than needed, simply based on observations of how unwisely they have exercised that authority... to benefit a few at the expense of the ignorance of an entire nation.
I do not know whether you are the real Donald Trump or not... but someone sure needs to tell him this.
Our nation is getting so damned ignorant that other nations are going to do what our own Congress won't allow us to do. They will do it, while we wag our pens. And they will eat our lunch.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]