DNI: Russians Hacked U.S. Industrial Control Nets

[Geee]

Free Beacon:

Russian hackers penetrated U.S. industrial control networks that run critical infrastructures like the electrical grid, according to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

 

Clapper, in little-noticed testimony before Congress last week, also disclosed that Moscow has formed a cyber military command and a special hacker unit as part of preparations for future cyber warfare.

 

In addition to Russia, the intelligence chief singled out China, Iran, and North Korea as the primary nation states capable of conducting sophisticated cyber attacks and espionage.

 

“Politically motivated cyber attacks are now a growing reality, and foreign actors are reconnoitering and developing access to U.S. critical infrastructure systems, which might be quickly exploited for disruption if an adversary’s intent became hostile,” Clapper said in prepared remarks for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

 

The testimony on Sept. 10 represents a break from past public testimony on cyber threats. Previous intelligence statements and testimony limited public mention of explicit links between nations and their cyber strikes.

 

Clapper revealed that Russian cyber warfare specialists are developing the capability to remotely access industrial control systems used in managing critical infrastructure.

 

“Unknown Russian actors successfully compromised the product supply chains of at least three [industrial control system] vendors so that customers downloaded malicious software designed to facilitate exploitation directly from the vendors’ websites along with legitimate software updates…,” Clapper stated.