Hackers gain entry into U.S., European energy sector, Symantec warns

Reuters ^ | September 6, 2017 | by Dustin Volz

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Advanced hackers have targeted United States and European energy companies in a cyber espionage campaign that has in some cases successfully broken into the core systems that control the companies’ operations, according to researchers at the security firm Symantec.

Malicious email campaigns have been used to gain entry into organizations in the United States, Turkey and Switzerland, and likely other countries well.

The cyber attacks, which began in late 2015 but increased in frequency in April of this year, are probably the work of a foreign government and bear the hallmarks of a hacking group known as Dragonfly.

The research adds to concerns that industrial firms, including power providers and other utilities, are susceptible to cyber attacks that could be leveraged for destructive purposes in the event of a major geopolitical conflict.

In June the U.S. government warned industrial firms about a hacking campaign targeting the nuclear and energy sectors, saying in an alert seen by Reuters that hackers sent phishing emails to harvest credentials in order to gain access to targeted networks.

[bigbob]

Great. So we’ll know they succeeded if the power suddenly goes o...

[Darksheare]

Back in 2003 I was informed by a poster on this forum that this was “Impossible” and “Tinfoil hat” territory.
The 2003 northeast blackout was possibly a test.

[TangoLimaSierra]

I have to hope that we have a contingency plan, that if our grid is hacked and brought down, that we would take out the grids of any countries that might want to take advantage of such an event. I hope.