- Redfly: Espionage Actors Continue to Target Critical Infrastructure
September 12, 2023
Espionage actors are continuing to mount attacks on critical national infrastructure (CNI) targets, a trend that has become a source of concern for governments and CNI organizations worldwide. Symantec’s Threat Hunter Team has found evidence that a threat actor group Symantec calls Redfly used the ShadowPad Trojan to compromise a national grid in an Asian ...
- Analyzing Cuba ransomware
September 11, 2023
The group’s offensives first got on Kaspersky researchers radar in late 2020. Back then, the cybercriminals had not yet adopted the moniker “Cuba”; they were known as “Tropical Scorpius”. Cuba mostly targets organizations in the United States, Canada and Europe. The gang has scored a series of resonant attacks on oil companies, financial services, government ...
- UK: National Grid plots ‘honeypots’ to catch hackers as cyber attacks ramp up
August 30, 2023
National Grid is to set “honeypots” and plant false documents online as part of efforts to counter a surge in cyber attackers. The Grid has advertised a contract worth more than a million pounds to secure advanced cyber “deception” technology to help improve its digital defences. The London-listed infrastructure provider, which runs Britain’s electricity network and ...
- IAEA: Improving Computer Security Anomaly Detection Techniques through Coordinated Research Projects
August 25, 2023
Identifying anomalies in the operations of computer systems that control critical safety and security functions calls for extensive expertise, and the actions required need to be tested, analysed and amended in order to be robust. “Anomaly detection plays an important part in early assessment of possible threats targeting the computer-based systems at nuclear and radiological facilities,” ...
- Cyber attack on Aussie energy services firm may hit UK CNI
August 21, 2023
Operators of critical utility infrastructure across the UK may have been affected by a developing cyber attack on the systems of Energy One, an Australia-based supplier of software and services for the energy sector. The ongoing incident was disclosed via a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on the morning of Monday 21 August (Sunday ...
- Unknown actor targets power generator with DroxiDat and Cobalt Strike
August 10, 2023
Recently Kaspersky pushed a report about an interesting and common component of the cybercrime malware set – SystemBC. And, in much the same vein as the 2021 Darkside Colonial Pipeline incident, they found a new SystemBC variant deployed to a critical infrastructure target. This time, the proxy-capable backdoor was deployed alongside Cobalt Strike beacons in ...
- Cyberattacks targeting utility firms at ‘alarmingly high levels’
August 2, 2023
Utility firms such as electricity providers have become the new frontier for cyberattacks, reaching “alarmingly high levels” last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave fresh impetus to cyber criminals to attack electricity grids and demand ransoms from energy companies scarcely able to defend themselves due to a cybersecurity ...
- US officials search for hidden Chinese malware that could affect military operations
July 29, 2023
US officials are searching for Chinese malware hidden in various defense systems that could disrupt military communications and resupply operations, The New York Times reported Saturday. The administration believes malicious computer code has been hidden inside “networks controlling power grids, communications systems and water supplies that feed military bases,” officials told the Times. Read more… Source: CNN News
- TSA updates, renews cybersecurity requirements for pipeline owners, operators
July 26, 2023
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced an update to its Security Directive regarding oil and natural gas pipeline cybersecurity. This revised directive will continue the effort to reinforce cybersecurity preparedness and resilience for the nation’s critical pipelines. Developed with input from industry stakeholders and federal partners, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the ...
- Securing Digital Technologies of the Next Generation of Nuclear Reactors
July 25, 2023
All innovations bring potential benefits that could transform industries, but they also bring potential risks. In the nuclear field, advanced nuclear reactors, including small modular reactors (SMRs), are incorporating innovative technologies, particularly digital technologies that yield novel solutions. There is growing interest in SMRs. These advanced nuclear reactors have a limited power capacity — typically ...
- US energy department, other agencies hit in global hacking spree
July 16, 2023
The U.S. Department of Energy and several other federal agencies were hit in a global hacking campaign that exploited a vulnerability in widely used file-transfer software, officials said on Thursday. Data was “compromised” at two entities within the energy department when hackers gained access through a security flaw in MOVEit Transfer, the department said in a ...
- Utility cyber threats on the rise, but experts say don’t forget basics
July 12, 2023
“There’s an increase in threat actors targeting critical infrastructure,” said Katell Thielemann, a Gartner research analyst focused on risk and security for cyber-physical systems. “And there’s an enhanced sensitivity that threat actors are probing infrastructure.” Since 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s annual summary of electric disturbance events shows an uptick in cyber activity. And cyber ...
- How Computer Security Exercises Help Increase Readiness for Response to Cyberattacks in Nuclear Security
June 20, 2023
Historically, nuclear facilities have focused on securing their nuclear material against malevolent attacks by putting in place physical protection measures such as guns, guards and gates. These measures are still used to successfully build fortresses around nuclear facilities, preventing theft of nuclear or other radioactive material, sabotage or unauthorized access to control systems. However, in recent ...
- Military leaders warn U.S. must prepare for cyber, infrastructure threat
June 16, 2023
The United States must immediately get ready for domestic, cyber-enabled attacks on critical domestic infrastructure and guard against foreign-initiated information operations targeted at the American people, according to speakers and panelists at an Association of the U.S. Army symposium on Wednesday in Arlington, Virginia. Mark Bristow, director of the Cyber Infrastructure Protection Innovation Center (CIPIC) at ...
- Rosenergoatom official says Zaporozhye NPP has to deal with daily cyberattacks
June 15, 2023
Every day, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) has to deal with cyberattacks, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company has said. “Every day, networks of the Rosenergoatom concern, of the Rosatom state corporation and of the plant’s operating company, JSC Zaporozhye NPP, are subjected to powerful DDoS attacks,” Renat ...
- COSMICENERGY: New OT Malware Possibly Related To Russian Emergency Response Exercises
May 25, 2023
Mandiant identified novel operational technology (OT) / industrial control system (ICS)-oriented malware, which we track as COSMICENERGY, uploaded to a public malware scanning utility in December 2021 by a submitter in Russia. The malware is designed to cause electric power disruption by interacting with IEC 60870-5-104 (IEC-104) devices, such as remote terminal units (RTUs), that are ...
- Energy giant warns of ‘catastrophic damage’ if government bans payment of cyber ransoms
April 26, 2023
A government-imposed ban on companies paying cyber ransoms to hackers could cause “catastrophic damage” and even lead to the loss of Australian lives, the nation’s biggest energy producer has warned. AGL Energy, whose board was recently reshuffled by Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, described ransom bans as a dangerous double-edged sword. Read more… Source: 9News
- NATO and European Union launch task force on resilience of critical infrastructure
March 16, 2023
First announced by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in January, the initiative brings together officials from both organisations to share best practices, share situational awareness, and develop principles to improve resilience. The Task Force will begin by focusing on four sectors: energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and space. Announcing ...
- Canada: Cyber attack hits engineering giant with contracts for military bases, power plants
March 9, 2023
A Canadian engineering giant whose work involves critical military, power and transportation infrastructure across the country has been hit with a ransomware attack. Toronto-based Black & McDonald has so far refused to publicly comment on the cyberattack, while the Department of National Defence and other clients of the company have downplayed any impact or damage. Read more… Source: ...
- Blow to Morgan Advanced Materials as cyber-attack to cost millions to deal with
February 7, 2023
Shares in Morgan Advanced Materials tanked 7.5% to 292p this morning after the industrial manufacturer became the latest listed firm to fall victim to a cyber attack which it said would cost millions of pounds to tackle. The 166-year-old firm warned the attack meant some of its IT systems were irrecoverable, and it had been forced ...