russian hackers Archives - John Sileo, Cyber Security Training

Posts tagged "russian hackers"

Is Russian Hacking of U.S. Nuclear Power Plants a Reality?

New Evidence Points to Russian Hacking of U.S. Power Grid

Russian hacking of the United States’ power grid isn’t just probable, it is already happening.

Hackers recently breached at least a dozen U.S. power plants, including the Wolf Creek nuclear facility in Kansas. It appears they were searching for vulnerabilities in the electrical grid, likely to be exploited at a later, more critical time. In a related case, hackers also recently infiltrated an unidentified company that makes control systems for equipment used in the power industry. Although none of the security teams analyzing the breaches have linked the work to a particular hacking team or country, the chief suspect is Russia. Why are they the primary suspect? Because Russian hackers have previously taken down parts of the electrical grid in Ukraine across several attacks and seem to be testing more and more advanced methods.

Cyber Espionage’s Latest Target? Your Baby Cam!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaGhGqcv2JoΩ&rel=0]
Just over a year ago I appeared on Fox Business and wrote a blog about a Texas couple who learned their child’s baby monitor had been hacked when the intruder started screaming obscenities through the device. At the time the webcam system itself was found to have some glaring vulnerabilities, which were fixed by a firmware update, but I pointed out that the bottom line is that owners had not taken the necessary steps to secure their device and the onus was ultimately on them.

Now the news has broken about the latest in cyber espionage: a Russian website that is streaming footage from thousands of devices, including baby monitors, bedroom cameras, office surveillance systems and CCTV from gyms, in more than 250 countries, including feeds from 4,591 cameras in the United States. Not only are they streaming the footage, but they are providing the coordinates of where the cameras are located!