malware

Cybersecurity risks can occur daily, taking multiple forms. While there are personal measures that the general population can do to eliminate some of these risks, power utility companies must take a more aggressive approach to keep the communities they serve safe and their security unquestioned. COMMENTARY Should a power utility company face a cyberattack, it […]

A primitive but unique ransomware variant that emerged in mid-December can forcibly stop a number of processes, including multiple items related to industrial control system (ICS) operations, industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos warned in a detailed report on Feb. 3. The ransomware known as “EKANS” (or “Snake,” which is “EKANS” spelled backwards) is “relatively straightforward” as […]

Malware detected at the Kundankulam nuclear power plant in India’s state of Tamil Nadu has not affected plant systems, an investigation by Nuclear Power Corp. of India (NPCIL), the nation’s nuclear plant operator, confirms.  The entity said in a press release on Oct. 30 that it discovered the malware on Sept. 4 on the personal […]

XENOTIME, a cyberthreat activity group thought responsible for TRISIS/TRITON malware attacks on safety instrumented systems (SIS) at an oil and gas Middle Eastern facility in 2017, has been probing power company networks in the U.S. and elsewhere, new intelligence from industrial control systems (ICS) security firm Dragos shows.  “In February 2019, Dragos identified a change in […]

BlackEnergy, the malware used in a cyberattack that prompted a large-scale blackout in Ukraine in December 2015, has a successor—GreyEnergy. A group is using the malware to target industrial networks outside Ukraine, researchers  from Slovakian cybersecurity firm ESET warn.  The researchers said in an October 17–released white paper that analysis of the previously undocumented GreyEnergy […]

Malware-based attacks against utilities and power plants are increasing six-fold according to a recent federal report. Power plants have become an appealing target because of a lack of detection and monitoring

Russian government cyber threat actors have infiltrated workstations and servers of corporate networks containing data output from industrial control systems (ICS) or supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems associated with an unnamed number of power plants, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned. The dire warning issued by the agency’s U.S. Computer Emergency […]

Though increasingly serious cybersecurity threats loom, nearly two-thirds of U.S. industrial control system (ICS) vulnerabilities identified in 2017 could cause severe operational impact if exploited, cybersecurity firm Dragos Inc. warned in a series of reports published March 1. The reports, which cover ICS vulnerabilities, ICS threats, and reactions to existing threats, draw a dire picture […]

 The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has proposed a revision of the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards to enhance awareness of existing or developing cybersecurity threats to the nation’s energy infrastructure. FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) on December 21 that directs the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) to broaden CIP-008-5 […]

Organizations across every industry today face a wide range of cyber threats and serious security challenges from various vectors. A top concern among these is the persistence cybersecurity experts are seeing

Understanding the threat posed to industrial control systems (ICSs) by malware is difficult. It requires knowledge of proper ICS functionality in order to identify illegitimate software. One industrial

What it means to have a secure energy generating facility has changed in recent years as the threat of cyberattacks grows. As the nation’s energy sector becomes increasingly interconnected, it is more

Operators at RWE’s Gundremmingen plant northwest of Munich moved to shut down the reactor this week after malware was discovered in the plant fuel handling network. The utility said the shutdown was a precaution and the plant was not believed to be in danger. Unlike previous malware attacks on power plants this year, the infection […]

External malicious actors deployed a “synchronized and coordinated” cyberattack to prompt the large-scale blackout in Ukraine last December, a U.S. interagency team has confirmed. The event on December 23, 2015— the world’s first power blackout prompted by a cyberattack—saw a swathe of unscheduled power outages afflict three regional power distribution companies (called the “Oblenergos”) and cut […]