Russian hackers slip into Vermont utility system

[caption id="attachment_109420" align="alignleft"] Visitors to the congress stand in front of a 3D tunnel at the Chaos Communication Congress (CCC) in Hamburg, Germany during the world's largest non-commercial hacker four-day meeting that concluded last Dec. 30. — AP
[/caption] WASHINGTON — A code connected to Russian hacking efforts has been discovered in a utility system in Vermont, The Washington Post reported. The code detected in the northeastern state’s system did not disrupt its operations, the paper wrote on Friday, citing US officials. The code was associated with the Russian hacking efforts that US officials have dubbed “Grizzly Steppe.” The Russians did not actively use the code to disrupt operations, according to officials who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity. But they told the daily that the discovery underscores the vulnerabilities of the nation’s electrical grid, and raises fears that Russian government hackers are actively trying to penetrate the grid to carry out potential attacks. The Burlington Electric Department said it had been alerted by the government Thursday night, carried out a scan and found the malware in one laptop not connected to its grid systems. It said it took action to isolate that laptop. Vermont’s Governor Peter Shumlin in a statement late Friday condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world’s leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid, which we rely upon to support our quality-of-life, economy, health, and safety,” he said. A US federal law enforcement report released this week showed that Russian intelligence agencies over the last two years blanketed Democratic Party targets with malicious emails and have likely continued such efforts after November’s elections. The report’s release followed an array of measures unveiled by Washington as retribution for what US officials have described as Moscow’s malicious efforts to tip the vote in favor of President-elect Donald Trump by stealing embarrassing information from Democratic Party operations and senior party members before releasing it to the news media. Several states around the country on Saturday asked cybersecurity experts to re-examine state and utility networks after a Vermont utility’s laptop was found to contain malware that US officials say is linked to Russian hackers. The Burlington Electric Department, one of Vermont’s two largest electric utilities, confirmed Friday it had found on one of its laptops the malware code used in Grizzly Steppe, the name the US government has given to malicious cyber activity by Russian civilian and military intelligence services. A Burlington Electric Department spokesman said federal officials have told company officials the threat was not unique to them. A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security would not say whether any other utilities, organizations or entities had reported similar malware on their systems following the report. The official said any such information would be confidential. Officials in New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut said they are more closely monitoring state and utility networks for anything suspicious. — AFP