Washington: Russian hackers preparing to attack the US energy systems
Russian hackers are actively exploring computer networks of the US energy infrastructure are capable of creating failures in US industrial systems, said Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen in Washington during the summit on cyber security.
"They conduct research. They want to know how everything works. It can be said that they are exploring the battlefield for future interference and cyber-attacks. We often detect them scanning our systems,” the Voice of America cites the Secretary as saying. Nielsen also recalled blackouts in Ukraine in 2015 and 2016 as examples of Russian hackers’ ability to destabilize energy infrastructure.
According to the Secretary, starting from 2016, the US government witnessed the massive campaign of cyber interference in its critical infrastructure, probing industrial management systems in order to explore how they operate. Nielsen stated that Russians are capable of disrupting these systems, but the American infrastructure is ready to resist such threats.
At the beginning of 2018, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI said the Russian government took steps to collect information on the operation of key US National Security systems, including energy, nuclear, aviation, construction, water supply and sectors of critically important industry. According to the FBI, Russia started this campaign in March 2016.