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 ...
The power grid is an even bigger target.
It would be impossible for GRU Saboteurs to enter the US clandestinely.
Our borders are too secure.
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.
YES, Russia did it, and Trump colluded with them.
I would suspect the FBI first ... the potato head that runs the outfit is into crimes against the US.
https://www.wired.com/2014/11/countdown-to-zero-day-stuxnet/
Read the whole Examiner article before you jump to a conclusion.
Russia HAS the CAPABILITY to do this.
So do we.
I don’t think Russia is THAT stupid.
[I don’t think Russia is THAT stupid.]
(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.
I’m betting WEF sabotage teams did it, as well as many of the ‘accidents’ that have been happening at food production facilities lately.
[I’m betting WEF sabotage teams did it, as well as many of the ‘accidents’ that have been happening at food production facilities lately.]
Sigma Nus rule!
Klaus ... Although if you had money invested with Charles, and it ‘evaporated’ , I can see where you might hate him too.
Of course, could be a smoke screen to get us more involved in the Ukraine/Russia standoff.
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:
Yep, the same Russians who conspired to get Trump elected and the same hackers who gave the DNC emails to Wikileaks....../s
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.