Hacking the world power grid is one of the holy grails of hacker art . The first genuine baron outage induce by cyber-terrorist occurred nearKiev in 2015 . Now research worker say that a malicious group has gained unprecedented operational approach to American business leader company organisation , and experts worry that the ability to make a brownout at will could be in the hands of unknown actors .
https://gizmodo.com/hackers-built-a-weapon-to-trigger-blackouts-and-it-coul-1796016076
On Wednesday , the researchers at Symantec publisheda reportthat outlines the liberal details of their investigation into the action of a group they ’re calling “ Dragonfly 2.0 . ” Symantec claims to have evidence that in over 20 case the hackers win access to the point exponent companionship meshing . In some cases in the US , they negociate to stop up access to the interfaces that are used to control the force power system ’s equipment . As security investigator John Hultquistpoints out , the group “ has not establish a capability to manipulate the organisation they are after , ” but it does seem that this is a reconnaissance mission missionary post designed to prepare for an attack .
Symantec ’s enquiry is connect this attack with the Dragonfly group that itreportedon in 2014 and is believed to have been operating since at least 2011 . As in the previous case , the mathematical group seems to be bit by bit gathering intelligence on how these energy companies ’ surgical procedure and testing the amniotic fluid on how far they can penetrate the system . Dragonfly 2.0 is believed to have begun its work around December of 2015 , step up operation in the US , Switzerland , and Turkey in the first half of 2017 . “ There ’s a difference between being a step aside from deport sabotage and in reality being in a position to comport sabotage , ” Eric Chien , a Symantec security psychoanalyst , tellsWired . In this case , Chein says that the group was able to gain that strategic berth .
These hackers are act at a gamy level of operation , but they are n’t reinventing the wheel . try on and truespear phishingandwatering holetechniques were used to trick employees into revealing usernames and passwords that give access code to restricted portions of the electrical system . Ars Technicaoutlines some of the hackers ’ method :
One tactic involve using the publically availablePhishery toolkitto send targets a Microsoft Word document that was programme to download a template from a predetermined server controlled by the attackers . The server would then query the download estimator forSMB credentials that many corporate networks employ to bound access to verified users . In many cases , the downloading computers would respond and in the process provide the assailant with the user name and acryptographic hashto the targeted internet . Researchers with Cisco Systemsdescribed the so - called template injection attackin July . Once Dragonfly used the parole to go against the fellowship ’s incarnate electronic internet , the hackers would then traverse to the operating internet .
Once inwardly , the group was able to install back door that coordinate with the trojans used by the first Dragonfly cognitive operation . There was also forensic evidence that , in the most successful cases , the attackers were able to take screenshots of the dominance jury that send instruction to circuit breakers that regulate the flow of electricity . Symantec said that it has worked with the company that were affected to remove any malicious software , but it will be crucial for staff office to update their login credentials . It also has warned over 100 get-up-and-go companies about the technique that were used and could potentially have compromised arrangement .
Symantec is n’t let out everything it learned about the attacker or the names of their targets . It also notes that unwashed tool were used and fuck vulnerabilities were exploited . The link to the first round of Dragonfly attacks is primarily based on two pieces of malware that both attacks share , methods of violation , and the pick of energy company as targets . Other alias that have been link up to this group let in Energetic Bear , Crouching Yeti , and Koala . The US government connect the Dragonfly attacks to the Russian governing in its December cybersecurityreportabout election - relate hacking . But Symantec is make no claim about the country of blood and writes that Russian and Gallic linguistic communication were used , one or both of which could be mistaken flag .
The fact that these operations seem to be focused on gathering news does give a potent signal that a government actor could be responsible . “ What it plans to do with all this intelligence has yet to become clean , but its capacity do extend to materially break up aim organizations should it choose to do so , ” Symantec wrote in its report . “ What is clear is that Dragonfly is a highly experient menace actor , capable of compromising legion organizations , stealing information , and get ahead memory access to key systems . ”
Two factors should relieve some worry . One is that our nation ’s decentralized exponent grid would likely be able to find from an onslaught middling apace . A2016 hackon the power grid in Kiev only took the system down for an hr . The second slice of good news is that the hackers would need to deploy a piece of usage malware like the “ Crash Override ” code that was used to countermine system of rules in Kiev . Symantec is n’t reporting that any variety of tools that could actually take ascendency of the organization have been describe . It appear that in this case , the group is still gather the intel it needs . As Robert M. Lee , founder of security measures firmDragospointed outon Twitter , the data gathering cited in the Symantec report is “ exactly what you ’d want to pull in ( and engineering document which Symantec has tell were slip ) to project attacks . ”
In the meantime , Symantec hasoutlineddefensive step for electric companies to take and US cyber performance will need to take these developments into account . Whoever this mathematical group is , they ’re micturate forward motion in their delegation and they seem quite patient .
[ Symantec , Wired , Ars Technica ]
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