US Says Russia Hacked Energy Grid, Punishes 19 for Meddling (apnews.com)

Associated Press: Pushing back harder on Russia, the Trump administration accused Moscow on Thursday of a concerted hacking operation targeting the U.S. energy grid, aviation systems and other infrastructure, and also imposed sanctions on Russians for alleged interference in the 2016 election. It was the strongest action to date against Russia by the administration, which has long been accused of being too soft on the Kremlin, and the first punishments for election meddling since President Donald Trump took office. The sanctions list included the 13 Russians indicted last month by special counsel Robert Mueller, whose Russia investigation the president has repeatedly sought to discredit. U.S. national security officials said the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and intelligence agencies had determined that Russian intelligence and others were behind a broad range of cyberattacks beginning a year ago that have infiltrated the energy, nuclear, commercial, water, aviation and manufacturing sectors. Further reading: Russian Government Cyber Activity Targeting Energy and Other Critical Infrastructure Sectors (US-Cert); U.S. blames Russia for cyber attacks on energy grid, other sectors (Reuters); U.S. says Russian hackers targeted American energy grid (Politico); Trump administration finally announces Russia sanctions over election meddling (CNN); U.S. sanctions on Russia cite 2016 election interference -- but remain largely symbolic (USA Today); U.S. Sanctions Russians Charged by Mueller for Election Meddling (Bloomberg); and Trump Administration Sanctions Russians for Election Meddling and Cyberattacks (The New York Times).

Comments

Misplaced priorities

[FrankHaynes]

They're so worried about "hackers" when mismanagement and neglect are much bigger problems. But admitting that makes the powers that be look bad, so we get this crap because it makes them appear to be "doing something".

A "derecho" blasted through the Washington, DC area (twice) in two different summer seasons and left millions without power after the winds blew down power lines. Who was arrested for that??

There are numerous older devices that convert serial ports on industrial control systems to TCP/IP in an attempt to modernize them, but with no security or very poor security by today's standards. Some of these are basically sitting on the internet just waiting to get pwned. Who's going to go to jail for this utter stupidity??

But sure, let's crow about how we rounded up 19 Russians, because...RUSSIANS!!