Hackers Used Malware to Confuse Utility in Ukraine Outage: Report

Advertisement
By Reuters | Updated: 11 January 2016 09:34 IST
Hackers Used Malware to Confuse Utility in Ukraine Outage: Report
Hackers likely caused a December 23 electricity outage in Ukraine by remotely switching breakers to cut power, after installing malware to prevent technicians from detecting the attack, according to a report analysing how the incident unfolded.

The report from Washington-based SANS ICS was released late on Saturday, providing the first detailed analysis of what caused a six-hour outage for some 80,000 customers of Western Ukraine's Prykarpattyaoblenergo utility.

SANS ICS, which advises infrastructure operators on combating cyber-attacks, also said the attackers crippled the utility's customer-service center by flooding it with phone calls to prevent customers from alerting the utility that power was down.

"This was a multi-pronged attack against multiple facilities. It was highly coordinated with very professional logistics," said Robert Lee, a former US Air Force cyber warfare operations officer who helped compile the report for SANS ICS. "They sort of blinded them in every way possible."

Experts widely describe the incident as the first known power outage caused by a cyber-attack. Ukraine's SBU state security service blamed Russia, and US cyber firm iSight Partners identified the perpetrator as a Russian hacking group known as "Sandworm."

Advertisement

Ukraine's energy ministry has said it will hold off on discussing the matter until after Jan. 18, following completion of a formal probe into the matter.

The utility's operators were able to quickly recover by switching to manual operations, essentially disconnecting infected workstations and servers from the grid, according to the report.

Advertisement

SANS ICS said on its blog it had "high confidence" in its findings, which were based on discussions and analysis from "multiple international community members and companies". The report's authors declined to identify those sources.

US critical infrastructure security expert Joe Weiss said he believed the report's findings would be validated. "They did a phenomenal job," he said.

Advertisement

There is strong interest in the outage because of concerns that similar techniques could be used to launch more attacks on power operators around the globe.

"What is now true is that a coordinated cyber-attack consisting of multiple elements is one of the expected hazards (electric utilities) may face," SANS ICS Director Michael Assante said in a blog.

"We need to learn and prepare ourselves to detect, respond, and restore from such events in the future," said Assante, former chief security officer of the quasi-governmental North American Electric Reliability Corp.

© Thomson Reuters 2016

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Google Pixel 10 Series Price in India Reportedly Leaked Ahead of Launch
  2. Poco M7 Plus 5G Launched in India With 7,000mAh Battery at This Price
  3. Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold Design Teased Ahead of August 20 Launch
  4. Infinix Hot 60i 5G Will Be Launched in India on This Date
  5. Lenovo Tab Launched in India With 5,100mAh Battery, LTE Connectivity
  1. Samsung Galaxy S24 Series, Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 Get Android 16-Based One UI 8 Beta Update: Report
  2. Apple Responds After Elon Musk Alleges Favourism to OpenAI, Says App Store ‘Free of Bias’: Report
  3. Asus NUC 15 Performance Mini PC With Up to Intel Core Ultra 9 CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 50 Series GPUs Launched
  4. Acer India Launches New Laptop Manufacturing Facility in Puducherry, Says Committed to Make in India Mission
  5. Realme P4 5G Series Camera Specifications Revealed Ahead of India Launch
  6. Vivo X300 Listings on China's Radio Certification Agency Website Hint at Imminent Launch
  7. Google Reportedly Working on Adding Support for Full-Range of Canvas Tools in Gemini’s Android App
  8. Redmi Note 15 Pro+ to Feature the Same Chipset as Last Year's Redmi Note 14 Pro+, Tipster Claims
  9. Infinix Hot 60i 5G India Launch Date Confirmed; Company Teases Key Specifications
  10. Perseid Meteor Shower 2025 to Dazzle Night Sky in August
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.