Posted on 03/30/2022 10:32:58 AM PDT by blam
Russian hackers have been scanning the systems of energy companies and other critical infrastructure in the United States, and state-sponsored hacking by Russia presents a “current” threat to American national security, a top FBI official told lawmakers on Tuesday.
“The threat from Russia in a criminal sense, in the nation state sense, is very, very real – and current,” said Bryan Vorndran, an assistant director in the FBI’s cyber division, during a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives panel.
In the weeks since Russia’s unprovoked attack against Ukraine, the White House and the Justice Department have been warning U.S. companies about intelligence suggesting that Russia has been taking early steps toward possibly launching cyberattacks.
Vorndran told lawmakers that “instances of Russian scanning” networks in the U.S. energy sector have increased recently, and he said such activity represents a “reconnaissance phase” by Russia to try and understand a company’s defenses and whether it has vulnerabilities that could be exploited.
“It’s an extremely important part of the overall attacks,” he noted, adding later in his testimony that Russia represents “one of the two most capable cyber adversaries we face globally,” and is “a formidable foe.”
Last year, well before Russia’s attack on Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden openly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that certain critical infrastructure should be “off-limits” to cyberattacks.
That warning applied to 16 different kinds of infrastructure – an apparent reference to the 16 sectors designated as critical by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, including telecommunications, healthcare, food and energy.
Since that time Vorndran told lawmakers he was aware of software companies, among others who have been targeted with attacks.
“There are compromises against some of those 16 critical infrastructure sectors,” he said. “I can’t speak specifically to which ones.”
Gives new meaning to the phrase “light ‘em up”
Russia Russia Russia
Disconnect the SCADA from the corporate enterprise!
“All programmers who work on critical systems should have passed TS/SCI level type background checks and should be monitored financially on a continuous basis.”
Not realistic. The cost for that would be astronomical and most of the currently employed would fail the checks (other than nuclear plant operators).
So, the FBI is screwing with energy systems and blaming Russia. It’s what they’ve been doing for years now: Committing crimes and blaming Russia.
“should have passed TS/SCI level type background checks”
Those are absolutely useless these days. They give clearances to anyone who is a US citizen regardless of any previous background in their native country. I have seen Chinese spies get clearances. I’ve seen people who hate the US get clearances. Character is never an issue any more with clearances. Not even a felony conviction stops clearances. As long as you tell the truth on the forms and several people say you are who you claim to be, that’s all it takes.
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