After influencing US Polls 2016 through Cyber Espionage, Russia is now said to be eying critical infrastructural units of United States. This was concluded in a 494-page report submitted to the White House by Department of Energy (DOE). The report included the fact that US Power Grids are extremely vulnerable to cyber attacks run by state-sponsored actors which could cost the loss of billions of dollars and millions of lives.
For this reason, DOE is urging the upcoming Donald Trump headed US government to invest more in cyber defense tools. The Department of Energy is also urging lawmakers for emergency powers to deter impending cyber attacks.
The study conducted by DOE infers that cyber attacks on US power grids could not only cause transmission failures but could also undermine US Lifeline Networks, vital defense infrastructure and eventually cause rupture to the nation’s economy.
DOE’s study which received an endorsement from National Center for Policy Analysis included the fact that Texas was the worst prone state in the whole of America as it has a self-contained power grid.
Spreading malicious links into critical industrial infrastructure has become an entertaining game for hackers as most of the material on ‘how to do it’ is available on YOUTUBE. Thus, with so much content available on the web, launching Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack to create a blackout has become a child’s play to cyber crooks.
As per a survey made by the DOE, the cost of launching a DDoS attack is just $40 and a spreading ransomware is just $80. What’s surprising is the fact that DOE experienced DDoS attacks more than 1,131 times/day during September and November last year.
We all know that Ukraine’s power grid was shut down with a ransomware called “Black Energy” in December last year. Ukraine government openly confessed that this was a conspiracy conducted by Russia.
Last month, US Intelligence Agencies confirmed that Russia was the nation which influenced US Elections of 2016 to go in favor of Donald Trump.
Now, the same law enforcement agencies suggest that US Power Grids are the next targets of Russia.
