CybersecurityWave of cyberattacks targets American energy companies
A new wave of cyberattacks has been hitting American corporations, and federal officials, say the attackers, who reside somewhere in the Middle East, are trying to sabotage these corporations. The majority of the targets have been energy companies, and the attacks are trying to take control of company’s processing systems.
U.S. energy companies facing wave of cyberattacks from the Middle East // Source: presstv.ir
A new wave of cyberattacks has been hitting American corporations, and federal officials, say the attackers, who reside somewhere in the Middle East, are trying to sabotage these corporations.
The New York Times reports that the majority of the targets have been energy companies. The attacks are trying to take control of company’s processing systems. Officials say they do not know whether the attacks are the work of criminals, hacking organizations, or are state-sponsored.
“We are concerned by these intrusions, and we are trying to make sure they don’t lead to something much bigger, as they did in the Saudi case,” one senior American official told the Times.
Two senior officials say the attacks were focused on the system of ten American energy firms. DHS has since released a warning describing the attacks as “probes that suggest someone is looking at how to take control of these systems.”
Last week’s warning “is an effort to make sure that the volume and timeliness of the information improves,” in line with a new executive order signed by the president, one senior official said.
The warning was issued by ICS-CERT, a federal agency which keeps an eye on attacks on computer system that run industrial processes. The agency says that the government has been “highly concerned about hostility against critical infrastructure organizations.”
The warning pressed chemical and energy companies to take steps to protect their systems. Dan McWhorter, the managing director of threat intelligence at Mandiant Corporation, said the suggestions DHS outlined were for “things most everyone should be doing on an everyday basis.
The warnings have unintentionally highlighted the fact that cellphone networks, electric utility grids, and chemical companies are not run by the government but by private organizations.
“The challenge will be managing our nation’s offensive and defensive capabilities,” said Evan Wolff, a partner at Hunton & Williams, who runs the firm’s homeland security practice and focuses on cyber issues. “Unlike conventional weapons, this will require a very broad engagement across the private sector.”
DHS has spent the last several years trying to boost its cybersecutiry force in an effort to keep up with the increasing number of attacks, but that effort has been hampered by top officials leaving.
Jane Holl Lute, the agency’s deputy secretary, Mark Weatherford, the department’s top cybersecurity official, Michael Locatis, the assistant secretary for cybersecurity, and Richard Spires, the agency’s chief information officer, have all left their positions recently.
