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Ukraine blackout was a cyberattack milestone

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

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Ukraine blackout was a cyberattack milestone

January 5, 2016

Some cyberattacks are about stealing data, some about monkeying with someone else's machines. This one left innocent bystanders in the dark. A massive power outage in Ukraine last month has been attributed to hackers targeting the electricity grid with malware. Security researchers say it is the first known instance of a blackout being credibly linked to the actions of malicious hackers.
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CIA Eyes Russian Hackers in ‘Blackout’ Attack

Digital forensic evidence points to the Russian hacker group SandWorm which works closely with the Kremlin. An updated version of the BlackEnergy trojan was used to turn off three power substations in the western Ukraine region of Ivano-Frankivsk on 23 December 2015. Hundreds of thousands were affected. This is precisely what governments and energy providers have feared for years ... the successful penetration and shutdown of a critical infrastructure utility by a foreign agent/actor.

[video=youtube;I77CGqQvPE4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?I77CGqQvPE4[/video]
 
Yep. There's British, Russian, Chinese, German, French, American, and pretty much all other hackers gainfully employed by their governments around the world engaging in cyber warfare, it's just another fact of life made possible via blooming technology.
 
No problem, we'll just send our robot soldiers over there to kill them in the dark.
 
Montecresto said:
Yep. There's British, Russian, Chinese, German, French, American, and pretty much all other hackers gainfully employed by their governments around the world engaging in cyber warfare, it's just another fact of life made possible via blooming technology.
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Cutting electricity to the Ukraine in the dead of winter is attempted mass murder any way you slice. How many mass murders and ethnic cleansing of Ukrainians will the Russian war pigs commit before they have had their fill of Ukrainian blood? Oh I forgot the inhuman Russian vampires' thirst for the blood of the innocent is insatiable.
 
U.S. Suspects Russia Behind Cyberattack On Ukraine Power Grid

U.S. power companies told to review defenses after Ukraine cyber attack

Investigators have discovered that two highly destructive Trojan program's were used to bring down power grids in western Ukraine on 23 December 2015. DiskKill (Trojan.Disakil) and BlackEnergy (Backdoor.Lancafdo). Also involved was a massive Denial of Service (DoS) attack. The organization behind the attack is thought to be the Russian SandWorm group which has previously attacked Ukraine, Poland, NATO, a number of Western European countries and companies operating in the energy sector. Investigating the attack are several internet security firms, Ukraine's SBU (state security), and the CIA, FBI, and Homeland Security from the US.
 
I wonder why US utilities are just now being told to evaluate their defenses. We've known they've been lacking for years.
 
Simpleχity;1065429893 said:
Ukraine blackout was a cyberattack milestone



CIA Eyes Russian Hackers in ‘Blackout’ Attack

Digital forensic evidence points to the Russian hacker group SandWorm which works closely with the Kremlin. An updated version of the BlackEnergy trojan was used to turn off three power substations in the western Ukraine region of Ivano-Frankivsk on 23 December 2015. Hundreds of thousands were affected. This is precisely what governments and energy providers have feared for years ... the successful penetration and shutdown of a critical infrastructure utility by a foreign agent/actor.

[video=youtube;I77CGqQvPE4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?I77CGqQvPE4[/video]
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Coming to a neighborhood near you.
 
Montecresto said:
I wonder why US utilities are just now being told to evaluate their defenses. We've known they've been lacking for years.
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People have been warning about this for many years now, so far very little has been done and it is doubtful anything will until it is too late.
 
Casper said:
People have been warning about this for many years now, so far very little has been done and it is doubtful anything will until it is too late.
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Previously such an attack resided in the realm of the theoretically possible.

Now it resides in the realm of empirical fact.
 
Casper said:
People have been warning about this for many years now, so far very little has been done and it is doubtful anything will until it is too late.
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That was the exact point of my comment. :shrug:
 
Simpleχity;1065433632 said:
Previously such an attack resided in the realm of the theoretically possible.

Now it resides in the realm of empirical fact.
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And when someone has a really cool tool you know they will just have to use it sooner or later. Me thinks Putin would Love to use the tool here, but he is not the only one, even terrorists have smart software people as part of their group.
 
Casper said:
And when someone has a really cool tool you know they will just have to use it sooner or later. Me thinks Putin would Love to use the tool here, but he is not the only one, even terrorists have smart software people as part of their group.
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Everybody's always looking for an edge. Nobody can compete with the money that the US throws it's military. But this could be a game changer.
 
Casper said:
And when someone has a really cool tool you know they will just have to use it sooner or later. Me thinks Putin would Love to use the tool here, but he is not the only one, even terrorists have smart software people as part of their group.
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The main reason a state actor (China, Russia, Iran etc) is hesitant to bring down a US power grid is probably because the NSA/Cyber Command is pre-authorized to immediately reply in kind.

The US government considers a digital attack on infrastructure as no different than a kinetic attack on infrastructure.

Non-state actors however, is an entirely different problem.
 
Montecresto said:
I wonder why US utilities are just now being told to evaluate their defenses. We've known they've been lacking for years.
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I wonder why you think they've never evaluated this before.
 
Deuce said:
I wonder why you think they've never evaluated this before.
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So this request was just to make really, really, really sure we're protected, ok. I suppose.
 
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