Hackers have broken into the control systems for parts of the US power grid, giving them the ability to shut down power delivery in sections of the country, says Symantec. The security firm discussed attacks by a group called Dragonfly 2.0.
Dragonfly 2.0 targeted dozens of energy companies in the past few months. The hackers were able to access power grid control systems in at least 20 separate cases. Access to those systems means the hackers could have triggered blackouts.
Symantec isn't naming the energy companies affected by these attacks, but at least some of those affected were in the US. One was in Turkey.
There's a difference between being a step away from conducting sabotage and actually being in a position to conduct sabotage ... being able to flip the switch on power generation ... We're now talking about on-the-ground technical evidence this could happen in the US, and there's nothing left standing in the way except the motivation of some actor out in the world.- Eric Chien, security analyst, Symantec
Symantec isn't blaming any country right now. Though it has noted a potential connection to the Palmetto Fusion attacks, which targeted multiple US power companies. Palmetto Fusion was tied to Russia.
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