Security analysts say that hackers targeted the UK's national electricity gridEngineers at Ireland's Electricity Supply Board were hit with a 'phishin
- Security analysts say that hackers targeted the UK’s national electricity grid
- Engineers at Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board were hit with a ‘phishing’ email
- Experts said that the attackers are using Ireland to test out their cyber weaponry
Russian hackers are thought to have attacked the UK’s national grid sparking fears that electricity supplies could be cut by cyber terrorists.
Security analysts say that a group backed by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin targeted the Republic of Ireland’s energy sector and tried to infiltrate control systems.
Senior engineers at the country’s Electricity Supply Board were hit with a ‘phishing’ email last month that tried to trick staff into downloading malicious software, according to The Times.
While no evidence of disruption has been uncovered, analysts fear that the hackers could have stolen sensitive information including top-secret passwords that could later be used to access systems.
Russian hackers are thought to have attacked the UK’s national grid sparking fears that electricity supplies could be cut by cyber terrorists (stock photo)
Experts said that the attackers are using Ireland to test out their cyber weaponry with the country hosting the offices of a number of major corporations including Apple and Facebook.
Some of the fake emails sent to engineers reportedly contained inside technical knowledge about the plants that the hackers were trying to access.
It is now feared that similar attack bids could be launched on other parts of the UK’s critical infrastructure.
It comes amid a renewed focus on cyber security following recent ransomware attacks across the globe.
Late last month hackers unleashed a major assault on computer systems around the world causing huge disruption to companies and governments in countries including the UK, US and Russia.
The Petya ransomware hijacked victims’ computers before encrypting their files and holding them hostage until a fee was paid.
Security analysts say that a group backed by Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin targeted the Republic of Ireland’s energy sector and tried to infiltrate control systems. The Russian President is pictured on Friday
Chernobyl’s radiation monitoring system was hit by the attack with its sensors shut down while UK advertising giant WPP, the largest agency in the world, was among dozens of firms affected.
The ransomware appeared to have been spread through popular accounting software and specifically targeted at bringing down business IT systems.
The outage began in Ukraine as the country’s power grid, airport, national bank and communications firms were first to report problems, before it spread rapidly throughout Europe.
Companies in the US, Germany, Norway, Russia, Denmark and France were among those affected.
In June wo senior managers at nuclear plants operated by EDF Energy had their passwords listed on Russian hacking sites.
The passwords – ‘Nuclear1’ and ‘Radiat10n’ – are thought to have been used on the business site LinkedIn.
They were being traded by hackers who had easily guessed the letters and numbers.
EDF, which operates Britain’s 15 nuclear reactors, did not comment about the breach.
COMMENTS