Atomic electricians

Last week, foreign hackers attacked more than 10 US power plants, including Wolf Creek nuclear power plants, Bloomberg reports with reference to existing and former American officials. The main suspicions fall on Russia.

The aim of the attack was the hackers checking the possibilities of violating the country's energy supply, the agency’s sources said. In addition to power plants, a company that produces power management systems was attacked. The power plants were sent a general warning.

One of the objects attacked by hackers is the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant located in Kansas. Representatives of the managing nuclear power plant of the company confirmed the agency the fact of an attempt to penetrate. It was emphasized that this did not affect the work of the station. “There was no extraneous impact on Wolf Creek,” said the press secretary of the AC. “The control computer systems of the station are separated from the corporate network.”

The FBI also emphasized that "there are no signs of a threat to public security," since the hacker attacks "are apparently limited to administrative and business networks."

According to the sources of the agency, the probability of Russia's involvement in the attack "causes special anxiety." Prior to this, the Russian hacker managed to partially penetrate the energy system of Ukraine. According to sources, this time the attackers "tested more and more modern tools to disable power supply."

On July 1, Reuters reported that the US authorities are preparing for a possible hacker campaign aimed at industrial and energy infrastructure facilities, 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.

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.