Trump administration officials are confirming that Russians did try to hack into U.S. systems – the electrical grid systems.
Katie Pavlich at Townhall writes “a number of Russia government entities hacked into the U.S. energy sector contributing to the broader power grid, with successful intrusions into U.S. systems.”
The report says there were no details about when the hacking happened, only that they were stopped immediately when they were noticed.
One official said 4,000 U.S. targets of Russian cyber attacks were notified last year about their vulnerabilities, and there were immediate consequences.
“The administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference in U.S. elections, destructive cyber-attacks, and intrusions targeting critical infrastructure,” said a statement by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
“These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the ongoing nefarious attacks emanating from Russia. Treasury intends to impose additional CAATSA sanctions, informed by our intelligence community, to hold Russian government officials and oligarchs accountable for their destabilizing activities by severing their access to the U.S. financial system.”
A senior official was quoted saying, “Truly responsible nations do not behave this way.”
It wasn’t the only development Thursday regarding Russia.
The U.S., Germany, France and the United Kingdom issued a condemnation of Russia’s suspected involvement in the poisoning in the U.K. of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
“We, the leaders of France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, abhor the attack that took place against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, United Kingdom, on March 4, 2018,” the statement said. “A British police officer who was also exposed in the attack remains seriously ill, and the lives of many innocent British citizens have been threatened.
“We express our sympathies to them all, and our admiration for the United Kingdom police and emergency services for their courageous response. This use of a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, constitutes the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War.”
The statement called the poisoning “an assault on the United Kingdom’s sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law.”
“It threatens the security of us all. The United Kingdom thoroughly briefed its allies that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attack. We share the United Kingdom’s assessment that there is no plausible alternative explanation, and note that Russia’s failure to address the legitimate request by the government of the United Kingdom further underlines Russia’s responsibility.
“We call on Russia to address all questions related to the attack in Salisbury. Russia should, in particular, provide full and complete disclosure of the Novichok program to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Our concerns are also heightened against the background of a pattern of earlier irresponsible Russian behavior. We call on Russia to live up to its responsibilities as a member of the U.N. Security Council to uphold international peace and security. ”
Also on Thursday, the White House announced new sanctions on Russia related to interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The targets of the sanctions include the 13 Russian individuals indicted last month who allegedly were part of a cyberattack team that infiltrated America’s energy, nuclear, commercial, water, aviation and manufacturing sectors, and others, AP reported.
“Officials said the Russian hackers chose their targets, obtained access to computer systems, conducted ‘network reconnaissance’ of systems that control key elements of the U.S. economy and then attempted to cover their tracks by deleting evidence of their infiltration,” AP said.
The report said the attempts to penetrate America’s grid and other systems continue.
Altogether, 19 Russian individuals and five companies were cited.
