Agencies urge critical infrastructure organizations to protect against Russian cyber threats to energy sector

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI and Department of Energy yesterday urged the energy sector and other critical infrastructure organizations to take certain actions to reduce cyber risks from state-sponsored Russian actors targeting the global energy sector. The FBI also alerted global critical infrastructure industrial control systems that a research institution controlled by the Russian government continues to target the global energy sector utilizing malware known as TRITON.

John Riggi, AHA’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk, said, “Both of the alerts relate the threats emanating from the same Russian research institute supporting the Russian military. As noted in the alert, TRITON was first used in 2017 to target a foreign petrochemical facility. This attack represented a notable shift in industrial control system targeting as the first attack designed to allow physical damage, environmental impact, and loss of life in the event of a plant’s running in an unsafe condition. Hospitals’ and health systems’ cybersecurity teams are encouraged to share these alerts with their facilities’ teams and all third parties providing operational technology services.”

For more information on these or other cyber and risk issues, contact Riggi at jriggi@aha.org.