Cyberattacks are about data, not collapse
Robert Walton, October 28, 2021. Robert Walton has spent 15 years covering policy, regulation and business in Washington, D.C., with a focus on the natural gas and electric utilities. He also has a journalism degree from the University of South Carolina, "Sophisticated hackers could crash the US power grid, but money, not sabotage, is their focus." Utility Dive, https://www.utilitydive.com/news/sophisticated-hackers-could-crash-the-us-power-grid-but-money-not-sabotag/603764/ Accessed on July 03, 2024. [AEW] [MSDI-JE-wk1] That may bring to mind worst-case doomsday scenarios, but security experts say there is little imminent risk that hackers will cause a widespread blackout, despite a near-constant barrage of attacks on utilities and grid assets.
“I don’t think the threat to reliability is imminent” even as more operational technology (OT) is internet accessible, said Lila Kee, general manager for GlobalSign’s North and South American operations. “Attackers are getting smarter and as we move OT online the threat surface will be wider, but what these hackers are doing is espionage. They’re going after data, they’re going after [intellectual property].”
“Most cyber attacks today are financially motivated.”
Kevin Perry
Former director of critical infrastructure protection, Southwest Power Pool
“If they wanted to go after the OT networks, from a sabotage standpoint, that’s an act of war,” Kee said. “And I don’t think even some of the biggest state actors are going to poke that bear.”
There are a variety of hackers and groups, “and their goals are similarly varied,” Kevin Perry, formerly the director of critical infrastructure protection at Southwest Power Pool, said in an email. Perry retired in 2018.
“Most cyber attacks today are financially motivated,” Perry said, with hackers attempting to steal credentials, company or customer financial information, or intellectual property. “Basically, information that can be used for financial gain.”