Malware linked to Russian hackers has been discovered on a laptop belonging to a public power utility in Vermont.
There's no evidence that hackers used the malware to disrupt or take the Burlington Electric Department offline. The agency scanned its computers "for the malware signature" on Thursday and detected it "in a single Burlington Electric Department laptop not connected to our organization's grid systems," utility spokesman Mike Kanarick said in a statement.
That came after the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a joint report about what the agencies referred to as Russia's "ongoing campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the US government and its citizens," an effort they dubbed Grizzly Steppe.
The Burlington laptop has been isolated and federal officials notified, Kanarick said. "Our team is working with federal officials to trace this malware and prevent any other attempts to infiltrate utility systems. We have briefed state officials and will support the investigation fully."
As the Burlington Free Press notes, Vermont Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia says "the grid is not in danger."
Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, however, was a bit more alarmed. "State-sponsored Russian hacking is a serious threat, and the attempts to penetrate the electric grid through a Vermont utility are the latest example," the Democrat said in a statement. "My staff and I were briefed by Vermont State Police Colonel Matthew Brimingham this evening. This is beyond hackers having electronic joy rides – this is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter. That is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly."
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Last year, hundreds of thousands of people in over 100 cities in Ukraine were hit with an electrical outage after computers owned by energy companies in that country were hit by malware. Ukraine blamed Russia, which denied any involvement, as it has with the recent US breaches. But Ukraine's power grid came under attack again just last week, when "a power distribution station near Kiev unexpectedly switched off," Reuters reports, plunging the northern part of the city into darkness.
Previously, DHS and the FBI "have not attributed malicious cyber activity to specific countries or threat actors. However, public attribution of these activities to RIS [Russian intelligence services] is supported by technical indicators from the US Intelligence Community, DHS, FBI, the private sector, and other entities," they said in their joint report.
The revelation prompted President Obama to impose sanctions on Russia and kick its diplomats out of the country. Thus far, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not retaliated, saying he will wait to see what President-elect Donald Trump does next month. That prompted Trump to tweet that Putin is "very smart."