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Researchers Found a Hacking Tool that Targets Energy Grids on the Dark Web (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A sophisticated piece of government-made malware, designed to do reconnaissance on energy grid's system ahead of an eventual cyberattack on critical infrastructure, was found on a dark web hacking forum. SentinelOne's researchers believe the malware was created by a team of hackers working for a government, likely from eastern Europe, according to a report published on Tuesday. Udi Shamir, chief security officer at SentinelOne, said that it's normal to find reused code and malware on forums because "nobody tries to reinvent the wheel again and again and again." But in this case, "it was very surprising to see such a sophisticated sample" appear in hacking forums, he told Motherboard in a phone interview.
Why are energy grids on the dark web?
Guise, keep up the breathless bullshit and continue to be vapid idiots and not "researchers" doing "research".
"nobody tries to reinvent the wheel again and again and again"
That is the ESSENCE of the software industry!
Why would the energy grids be plugged into the Dark Web?
too many secrets
I for one am surprised to discover that the dark web has enough energy grids to make them worth targeting.
</deadpan>
@Whee
Have gnu, will travel.
The dark web is a very bad place to have our energy grids located but the headline says they are there. That's bad grammar.
If a power control system or any other important infrastructure has it's SCADA system connected over the internet or even TO the internet....
The people in charge of it are MORONS.
There is ZERO reason to use the internet as your data systems for control interconnected. quit being cheap assholes and use private point to point. on an air gapped network.. And while you are at it HIRE COMPETENT ITSEC PEOPLE. Not Ex cops, those guys dont know shit about computer security...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Sure, I have no doubt the electric grid could be hacked to a point. But it would not be a widespread attack and would maybe affect a region at best. If it would be that effective I would almost guarantee someone would have already tried it. Much of this stuff comes from questionable sources who would create something but then find it goes nowhere and isn't useful. Makes everyone worried the end is near or its Armageddon. I would worry more about a virus infection getting into a nuclear plant then a grid.
Should be something like this "Researchers Found a Hacking Tool on the Dark Web that Targets Energy Grids".
Problem solved.
See subject: It's a serious threat to everyone really & it's good to know those guys @ SentinelOne found such machinations exist - knowing that, you can prepare yourself (even to the point of using it to 'portscan' yourself IF you are the entities under potential attack vs. exploit/breakin etc. - these tools CAN even be used "for the good" once you know they're there in other words (even when they're meant "for the bad")).
APK
P.S.=> It's good to know folks like them are out there doing a good job is all... apk
Vice does this a lot and runs fake titles, but nowhere in the SentinelOne report does the company say they found the malware on the DarkWeb. But hey, if DarkWeb attracts users that click on ads... why not lie to your users: https://sentinelone.com/blogs/...
Who is going to protect our critical infrastructure from these no good commie atheist salo eaters.
To even call .onion a dark web is demonization.
The thing about it now, is to intrigue you into using unsafe Tor practice for greater honeypot traps.
Tails is completely compromised by the CIA and has been since after Tails 1.4.1.
The only place you can get the correct .sig and hash that I know of is on kat.cr.
https://kat.cr/tails-1-4-1-i386-iso-multilang-tntvillage-t10922671.html
If you use it or any other Tor client and care a lot, you will change your clock to as inaccurate as possible and add these two lines to your torrc.
StrictNodes 1
ExcludeNodes {us}
This keeps you off the American .onion totally. Peace.
Guess what? Electric grids were already hacked in what appears to be one of the first more or less real cyber-wars (previous - Estonia 2007, Georgia 2008 - were primarily powerful DDoS attacks to either disrupt services or cut off the country from the rest of the world).
The hacking happened in December 2015, in Ukraine. The attack was a sophisticated APT attack from Russia.
You can find more by following description in IR-ALERT-H-16-056-01 or reading the Wired article by Kim Zetter.
And, by the way, malware did find its way into nuclear power plants (though not control systems).