Russian hackers have infiltrated US utility networks, DHS says

[Matrix]

Some reports are a bit sensational, according to one cybersecurity expert

 

A hot potato: Cyber threats to industrial infrastructure should be taken seriously, says Robert M. Lee, CEO of cybersecurity firm Dragos, but some publications are using "choice words" that mislead and hype up the issue.

Russian hackers working for a shadowy state-sponsored group previously identified as Energetic Bear or Dragonfly infiltrated the control rooms of US electric utilities last year as part of a long-running and dangerous campaign that claimed “hundreds of victims” according to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security said the hackers broke into supposedly “air-gapped” networks by first penetrating the networks of key vendors that had trusted relationships with utility companies.

Jonathan Homer, chief of industrial-control-system analysis for DHS, said it got to a point where the hackers could have disrupted power flows.

Monday’s briefing was the first time that DHS officials have provided this level of detail to the public. While the department didn’t call out victims by name, it did confirm that there were hundreds of victims, not just a few dozen as had previously been reported.

Robert M. Lee

 

✔ @RobertMLee

 · 22h

 

Replying to @RobertMLee

As an example this article, and many like it, use subtle word choices like noting that penetrating the control centers was “easy” and that it was “hundreds of victims” but not necessarily hundreds of control centers which is what they’re referring to when discussing “black outs”

 

Robert M. Lee

Robert M. Lee

✔ @RobertMLee

Then there’s the almost mocking note that supposedly these networks were supposed to be air gapped; except no one serious in the discussion considers control centers for electric grid functionality air gapped. It’s subtle but positions that this is a shock but it’s not

 

 

Robert M. Lee, founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Dragos, points out on Twitter that while warnings of threats are extremely important as they are becoming much more frequent, some of the language used in articles like those from The Wall Street Journal is not helpful and can be misleading.

Lee noted last September that “our adversaries are at the starting point of their journey to cause significant disruption to our power grid, not the finish line.”

Lee isn't wrong. The truth is, hardly any of us are familiar with the complexities of the US electric grid and the level of progress that hackers may or may not have achieved.

source

 

 

 

[steven36]

DHS  also said Iraq had Weapon of mass destruction  once upon a  time and  caused   Bush to start a second war based on lies , when in reality all the weapons had been destroyed in the fist war started by his Dad , And  the Government and news media had everyone believing it.     That war made many people ashamed to be from the USA  even one of my collage professors told me how it made him just want to move out of the USA  and things like this is make other Governments not trust  the USA that we will over throw there Government like we did  Iraq's .and others .  So unless they have real proof of this happening   i dont believe it  and don't you think if this was happening  they would shut these systems down and harden there security?  We better be glad we have a president   who likes Russia  if someone like Bush was in there that believed everything the Deep State told them we most likely be at war .

 

Read about who Valerie Plame and her husband Joe Wilson  was .  Joe Wilson is a hero like Snowden is , he exposed the USA Government  lies about those Weapon of mass destruction. They even made a movie about it Fair Game (2010)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0977855/

 

Just because the DHS says something dont mean its true .. And every News story has  4 sides. the right's side of the story , the left's side of the story , the center's side of the story and the truth witch is classified and the press don't even  have access too,  maybe  even the president dont have access too it like was the case with Bush.

 

If  DHS  had knowledge that we was under any real threat.. we would be put on  code orange like it was 2002 again . They dont play around when there is really something too worry about . It's just like before 9-11 happen they knew something was going to happen but they did not make it public because they didn't know were but they just knew it was going to happen somewhere,  but they raised security on all the Government ran things  i know because i was sub contracting for the military when it happen  and had inside knowledge.  But every since that happen they take any real threat very serious and will issue a code orange to the public,if they fell there is a real danger of being attacked , tell  were put on a high alert or something happens  i'm not worried about what they say you will just get yourself upset over a false alarm.

[Ha91]

Why issue code orrange? how will it help?