Current Events > US accuses Russia of cyber-attack on energy sector as new sanctions are imposed

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/15/russia-sanctions-energy-sector-cyber-attack-us-election-interference


US officials said that malware had been found in the operating systems of several organisations and companies in the US energy, nuclear, water and critical manufacturing sector, and the malware as well as other form of cyber-attacks had been traced back to Moscow.

Russias behaviour continues to trouble us and we are continuing to push back in meaningful ways, a senior national security official said.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an alert, urging other firms in the industry to review their cybersecurity. The alert said the concerted cyber-attack on US infrastructure began in March 2016.

It is the judgment of the DHS than Russian government cyberhackers were behind the hacking of organisations in the energy sector, a senior official said, adding that it was clear that the cyber-attack was coordinated and deliberately targeted.

Officials added that the motive of the attack was initially surveillance, to gather information on computer management systems in the US energy grid.

The cybersecurity alert said: DHS and FBI characterize this activity as a multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors who targeted small commercial facilities networks where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks.

After obtaining access, the Russian government cyber actors conducted network reconnaissance, moved laterally, and collected information pertaining to industrial control systems, it added.

At the same time, the US treasury announced new sanctions against Russian individuals and entities, including the FSB and GRU intelligence agencies, as well as the Internet Research Agency in St Petersburg, for interference in the 2016 elections.

As a result of Russias election interference, officials said that thousands of Russian-planted stories reached millions of people online during the US presidential campaign.

The new sanctions represent the broadest set of US punitive measures against Russia since the start of the Trump administration, and many of their targets are the same as those identified by an indictment by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

Muellers investigation has been denounced as a politically motivated witch-hunt by the president and his supporters, and the new measures represent the latest example of dissonance in attitudes towards Russia between Trump and other parts of the administration.

i see CE is not fond of reading too many words