US accuses Russia of cyber attacks on power grid

[DonViejo]

Source: CNN




By Sophie Tatum, CNN

Updated 7:45 AM ET, Fri March 16, 2018

Washington (CNN) - The US government has accused Russia of remotely targeting the US power grid, as part of its newly unveiled sanctions on the country.

The Department of Homeland Security released details Thursday of what it called a multi-stage effort by Russia to target specific government entities and critical infrastructure.

The Trump administration announced extensive sanctions against Russia on Thursday morning, which included sanctions on the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm that produced divisive political posts on American social media platforms during the 2016 presidential election.

According to the DHS, Russia accessed US government networks by initially targeting with malware small commercial third-party networks that were less secure.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/15/politics/dhs-fbi-russia-power-grid/index.html

[Achilleaze]

1. Dirty Donny* has some really skanky comrades

* aka republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief

[Fred Sanders]

2. Internet Research Agency, a troll farm, has been sanctioned? Well that should stop

them...although I supposed they can just reopen somewhere else.

Thanks for nothing, Trump.

Where are the crippling, North Korea-like sanctions?

[njhoneybadger]

3. It's all good. Our president and Putin are buddys

[flibbitygiblets]

4. Donnie needs to have a talk with his 'best friend' in Russia

Loudly. On the public stage. Your hand is being called, Donald. Man the fuck up.

[gvstn]

5. It is a disgrace that we have such a weak power grid.

It should have been upgraded decades ago. It is not like they don't make any money selling electricity. Ugh.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Theater

no different from Joe Stalin's "Show Trials"

Out of public view they are in collusion

[lordsummerisle]

7. Why are these utilities connected to the open Internet?

Why can't they be in their own separate intranet or subnet to shield themselves?

[IronLionZion]

8. Right after house repubs issued a declaration that this never happened

[duforsure]

9. Trump's too weak

To do anything to Putin or Russia for this. Democrats should be all over this.

[moondust]

10. 2015 attack on Ukraine power grid.

According to representatives of one of the companies, attacks were conducted from computers with IP addresses allocated to the Russian Federation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2015_Ukraine_power_grid_cyberattack

...investigators found indications of a malware called BlackEnergy.
~
The BlackEnergy malware has origins in Russia, but the U.S. isn't ready to attribute the attack to the Russian government.

https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/03/politics/cyberattack-ukraine-power-grid/index.html