US acknowledges that power outages in Ukraine last year were the work of hackers
The US government has officially acknowledged that hackers were involved in the power outages in the west of Ukraine in December 2015, as reported by Golos Amerikii, with reference to a report issued by the Department of Homeland Security.
The American experts drew conclusions based on the interviews with the representatives of six Ukrainian organizations which have suffered due to the loss of electricity. However, the report said that the experts had no opportunity for independent review of the technical evidence.
Recently, the American media, referring to sources in the White House, reported that the power outages in Ukraine was the work of hackers. The Department of Homeland Security did not disclose who is behind the cyber attacks in its report. However, American cyber company iSight Partners and other companies link the incident with the group of hackers known as “Sandworm”.
As previously reported, at the end of December 2015, the Ukrainian Public Joint Stock Company “Prikarpattyaoblenergo” was informed that the hackers attacked its computer systems. As a result, about 700,000 inhabitants of Ivano-Frankivsk region were left without electricity.
According to the State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine, in addition to "Prykarpattyaoblenergo", the cyber attacks were also directed at "Kievoblenergo", "Chernivtsioblenergo", "Hmelnitskoblenergo" and "Harkovoblenergo".
iSight Partners, which specializes in cyber intelligence, claims that the power outage involved a group of hackers known as “Sandworm”. Earlier, it was reported that the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security intend to investigate the involvement of Russian hackers.
On the 28th of December, the Security Service of Ukraine informed the public that the Russian Special Services’ attempt to hit the computer network facilities of the energy complex of Ukraine was stopped.