An hour of waiting for the attack

US authorities are preparing for a possible hacker campaign aimed at facilities of industrial and energy infrastructure, including those associated with the nuclear sector. The corresponding report was jointly prepared by the Ministry of National Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, reports Reuters.

According to American special services, since May, hackers send phishing letters in the company working in this area of ​​the economy. Using malware, cybercriminals collect information about the operation of electronic systems, which can later be used to intercept control over them.

Security services managed to fix several such attacks, the document is noted. However, it has not yet been possible to establish a specific goal of hackers. "Historically, the cyber attacks on the energy sector pursue various goals, from cyberspend to creating failures in the work of energy systems in case of conflict," the report says.

In December, The Washington Post, citing American officials, reported that Russian hackers tried to penetrate the Burlington Electric electric power company in Vermont. The attack did not cause concrete harm. However, the interlocutors of the publication suggest that the true goal was to test the capabilities of hackers to penetrate the critical infrastructure of the United States.

The US intelligence services provided the largest US energy companies with codes that were used by Russian hackers for attacks on political institutions of the United States. Burlington Electric identified in one of the computers a code that was used by the hacker group Grizzly STEPPE. According to the company, the malware was found in a laptop that was not connected to the Burlington Electric network. The company took urgent measures to isolate the laptop, and notified the federal authorities.