PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2017-01-03 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Was a Vermont Power Grid Infiltrated by Russian Hackers? (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • After the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a joint report on 29 December 2016 that included code believed to have been used by Russian hackers to penetrate the Democratic National Committee, Burlington Electric in Vermont scanned their systems for malware and discovered a single laptop had been compromised. The Washington Post used this piece of information as the basis for a story they published the following day under the headline Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont, U.S. officials say which opened as follows: Critics soon began seizing on issues related to the Post's reporting, including the newspaper's later updating of the online version of the article without notice to readers: Even more important, however, was that the Post's article stated or implied information not supported by facts that had been gathered at the time. Most notably, no power grid was demonstrably threatened, as only a single laptop had been infected with malware, and that computer was not even connected to Burlington Electric's grid system: And as the Post itself noted in a follow-up article three days later, the malware found on Burlington Electric's laptop does not appear to be connected with the Russian hacking operation known as Grizzly Steppe: Moreover, since malware is openly bought, sold, and used by multiple parties, the fact that malware found on Burlington Electric's laptop might have been related to malware used by Russians doesn't prove it was Russians who put it on the laptop. Nor does it prove in itself that Russians (or anyone else) were actually trying to penetrate an electrical grid system. Burlington Electric Department subsequently posted a statement noting that similar Internet activity had been observed in other parts of the U.S. and was not necessarily targeting the power company: The Washington Post also noted in their follow-up that the similar network activity was neither necessarily indicative of Russian involvement nor malicious in nature: The Post was criticized not only for editing their article substantially after publication in a way that was not readily apparent to readers, but for being slow to notify their audience of significant corrections to it: (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url