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Did Russian hackers blow up a Texas LNG pipeline on June 8?
Washington Examiner ^ | June 21, 2022 02:14 PM | Tom Rogan

Posted on 06/22/2022 11:20:48 AM PDT by Zhang Fei

According to two sources, around the time of Russia's late February invasion of Ukraine, a cyber unit of Russia's GRU military intelligence service again conducted targeting-reconnaissance operations against a major U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter, Freeport LNG.

U.S. LNG exports have long been a priority concern for Russia, viewed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a means for the United States to undercut Russia's domination of the European gas market.

On June 8, Freeport LNG suffered an explosion at its liquefaction plant and export terminal on Texas's Quintana Island. The damage suffered means the facility is not expected to resume major operations until late 2022. The June 8 disruption had an immediate impact in spiking already soaring European gas prices and has reinforced Russia's ability to hold gas supplies to Europe at risk in retaliation for the European Union sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine. U.S. LNG futures have fallen significantly since the explosion.

One source tells me that the FBI is investigating the cause of the explosion. Responding to a question as to whether the FBI and its Cyber Division were involved in the investigation, the FBI told the Washington Examiner, "We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into this matter."

But what actually happened on June 8?

Well, a June 14 press release from Freeport LNG notes that "the incident occurred in pipe racks that support the transfer of LNG from the facility's LNG storage tank area to the terminal's dock facilities. ... Preliminary observations suggest that the incident resulted from the overpressure and rupture of a segment of an LNG transfer line, leading to the rapid flashing of LNG and the release and ignition of the natural gas vapor cloud. Additional investigation is underway to determine the underlying precipitating events

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 202206; 20220608; biden; bloggers; energy; excellent; explosion; freeport; freeportlng; gasprices; gregabbott; gru; isolatedincidents; itistolaugh; lng; naturalgas; putin; quintana; quintanaisland; russia; texas; toobadsosad; ukraine
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To: mabarker1

The power grid is an even bigger target.


21 posted on 06/22/2022 12:10:17 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: Zhang Fei

It would be impossible for GRU Saboteurs to enter the US clandestinely.

Our borders are too secure.


22 posted on 06/22/2022 12:28:51 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Contempt for pre-born human life breeds contempt for post-born human life.)
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To: Zhang Fei

23 posted on 06/22/2022 12:29:38 PM PDT by 1FreeAmerican
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To: Bookshelf

Is the CIA still operating? I’ve heard they are selling off property in Langley to Tic-Toc.

Tic Toc? I thought it was to Telegram. My bad.


24 posted on 06/22/2022 12:37:10 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Zhang Fei

YES, Russia did it, and Trump colluded with them.


25 posted on 06/22/2022 12:56:32 PM PDT by achilles2000 ("I'll agree to save the whales as long as we can deport the liberals")
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To: Zhang Fei

I would suspect the FBI first ... the potato head that runs the outfit is into crimes against the US.


26 posted on 06/22/2022 12:59:46 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Biden not only suffers fools and criminals, he appoints them to positions of responsibility. )
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To: mabarker1
You do know the story of Stuxnet? The Iranians were not connected to outside world and guess who caused some mischief.....

https://www.wired.com/2014/11/countdown-to-zero-day-stuxnet/

27 posted on 06/22/2022 1:07:05 PM PDT by Lockbox (politicians, they all seemed like game show hosts to me.... Sting)
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To: JonPreston

Read the whole Examiner article before you jump to a conclusion.

Russia HAS the CAPABILITY to do this.


28 posted on 06/22/2022 1:14:52 PM PDT by Chad C. Mulligan (qd4)
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To: Chad C. Mulligan

So do we.


29 posted on 06/22/2022 1:18:33 PM PDT by JonPreston (Q: Never have so many, been so wrong, so often)
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To: Zhang Fei

I don’t think Russia is THAT stupid.


30 posted on 06/22/2022 1:30:14 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Vermont Lt

[I don’t think Russia is THAT stupid.]


That’s not stupid. People have apocalyptic visions of American retaliation. In real life, various countries have done all kinds of things without any serious response. And it’s not even unique to the US. Here’s a list of things where either no or minimal response resulted:

(1) the attack on the Panay by Imperial Japan
(2) the taking of the Pueblo by North Korea
(3) the taking of the Mayaguez by Cambodia
(4) the Russian shootdown of KAL007, which killed a Congressman and 63 Americans
(5) the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center by bin Laden

Taking out an oil pipeline is a footnote, relative to those other things. And many of these other countries lacked any serious ability to retaliate if the US decided to, for instance, burn their hometowns to the ground.


31 posted on 06/22/2022 2:05:16 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: All

I’m betting WEF sabotage teams did it, as well as many of the ‘accidents’ that have been happening at food production facilities lately.


32 posted on 06/22/2022 2:12:53 PM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: LegendHasIt

[I’m betting WEF sabotage teams did it, as well as many of the ‘accidents’ that have been happening at food production facilities lately.]


Charles Schwab is a name that will live in infamy.


33 posted on 06/22/2022 2:15:14 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Sigma Nus rule!


34 posted on 06/22/2022 2:19:54 PM PDT by jjotto ( Blessed are You LORD, who crushes enemies and subdues the wicked.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Klaus ... Although if you had money invested with Charles, and it ‘evaporated’ , I can see where you might hate him too.


35 posted on 06/22/2022 2:22:06 PM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: Zhang Fei

Of course, could be a smoke screen to get us more involved in the Ukraine/Russia standoff.


36 posted on 06/22/2022 2:31:28 PM PDT by mykroar (Democrats support both types of allowed thought: Marxist and Leninist.)
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To: Zhang Fei

Not an American, eh? Charles Schwab is an investments firm.


37 posted on 06/22/2022 2:32:08 PM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: MHGinTN
[Not an American, eh? Charles Schwab is an investments firm.]

Either my irony generator or your irony detector is broken. If the latter, I can recommend a skilled professional who, for a modest fee, will make the necessary repairs, and get it working like it just came off the factory floor. I am told he learned his trade from watching hundreds of hours of instructional video generated by a uniquely-accomplished trio of experts:


38 posted on 06/22/2022 2:46:30 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room.)
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To: Zhang Fei
Did Russian hackers blow up a Texas LNG pipeline on June 8?

Yep, the same Russians who conspired to get Trump elected and the same hackers who gave the DNC emails to Wikileaks....../s

39 posted on 06/22/2022 2:51:46 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Don't walk thru the watermelon patch)
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To: Zhang Fei

XENOTIME rose to prominence in December 2017 when Dragos and FireEye jointly published details of TRISIS (also known as TRITON, the focus of the MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK® Evaluations for ICS) destructive malware targeting Schneider Electric’s Triconex safety instrumented system.

https://www.dragos.com/threat/xenotime/

MITRE report https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0088/

Oct 23, 2020
WHEN MYSTERIOUS HACKERS triggered the shutdown of a Saudi Arabian oil refinery in August of 2017, the subsequent investigation found that the malware used in that attack had unprecedented, uniquely lethal potential: It was intended to disable safety systems in the plant designed to prevent dangerous conditions that could lead to leaks or explosions. Now, three years later, at least one Russian organization responsible for that callous cyberattack is being held to account.

Today the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Russia’s Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics, the organization that exactly two years ago was revealed to have played a role in the hacking operation that used that malware known as Triton or Trisis, intended to sabotage the Petro Rabigh refinery’s safety devices. Triton was designed specifically to exploit a vulnerability in the Triconex-branded “safety-instrumented systems” sold by Schneider Electric. Instead, it triggered a failsafe mechanism that shut down the Rabigh plant altogether.

The hackers who deployed Triton, given the name Xenotime by the industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos, have also probed US power grid targets, according to Dragos and the Electric Information Sharing and Analysis Center, scanning for points of entry into the networks of American utilities.

https://www.wired.com/story/russia-sanctions-triton-malware/

Treasury Sanctions Russian Government Research Institution Connected to the Triton Malware
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1162

References https://malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de/actor/xenotime

We have to wait for the report, but it is not unlikely that this group was responsible.


40 posted on 06/22/2022 3:12:17 PM PDT by AdmSmith (GCTGATATGTCTATGATTACTCAT)
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