Russian Hackers Gained Access to US Electrical Utilities

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Russian hackers were able to get access to the networks of electrical utilities in the US last year.

The Department of Homeland Security revealed that the hackers who worked for a Russian state-sponsored group known as Dragonfly or Energetic Bear used spear-phishing emails and watering-hole attacks to gain access to corporate networks of suppliers, which allowed them to steal credentials which were used to access the utility networks.

It could not be determined if the attacks were a prelude to a bigger future attack, but the DHS says it will be conducting four briefings and is still searching for evidence on the Russians attempting to automate their attacks.

Source: Reuters