LOS ANGELES (KNX) – The FBI issued a warning that Russian cyber hackers have scanned networks of at least five U.S. energy companies.
An FBI bulletin that was issued March 18 disclosed that 140 Russian IP addressed that were discovered “likely indicates early stages of reconnaissance, scanning networks for vulnerabilities for use in potential future intrusions,” CBS News reported, citing the bulletin.
It also found the addresses were scanning activity of at least 18 U.S. defense, financial services and IT companies.
Damon Petraglia, head of the Cyber-Crime Center at the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at the University of New Haven, told KNX In Depth the severity of this depends on what Russia has planned.
“It could be extremely dangerous and it could be a long term thing. It all depends on what (Russia) might use against us and what we have as far as remediation or security in place,” he said.
He added that this not something new, as all systems are being probed “24/7, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”
“If there’s a warning about it, then there’s either been an uptick in a specific type of probe or a variant of a probe probably,” he suggested.
So what could Russia be targeting? Petraglia said the “choice targets” can be found within the critical infrastructure sector.
“Right now gas prices are through the roof, right? Imagine stopping pipelines at this point. That would create a tremendous amount of chaos from (Russia’s) perspective,” he said.
As for what attack Russia could use, Petraglia believes it could be a “combination of types of attacks” but that it all comes down to what Russia’s goal is.
“Is it just to create havoc? Is it for profit? Depends on what they want out of it will dictate what they use against us,” he said.
Listen to Petraglia’s full interview in the audio above.
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