Russians Are Suspects in Phishing Attacks Involving U.S. Nuclear Site

A report from the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security warns of malware attacks targeting mainly nuclear power stations, and energy facilities. The attacks started May this year.

These attacks are getting an amber rating, the second highest level, and this far look like "credential spear phishing" attacks trying to get to map infiltrated networks. The attackers targeted employees at the organizations through phony resumes with embedded malware and watering hole attacks.

Bloomberg reported that: "The chief suspect is Russia, according to three people familiar with the continuing effort to eject the hackers from the computer networks. One of those networks belongs to an aging nuclear generating facility known as Wolf Creek -- owned by Westar Energy Inc., Great Plains Energy Inc. and Kansas Electric Power Cooperative Inc. -- on a lake shore near Burlington, Kansas.

The possibility of a Russia connection is particularly worrisome, former and current officials say, because Russian hackers have previously taken down parts of the electrical grid in Ukraine and appear to be testing increasingly advanced tools to disrupt power supplies." More data and live interview at Bloomberg

Clear as daylight that employees in these facilities need to be stepped through new-school security awareness training which includes simulated phishing attacks.

For instance, KnowBe4's integrated training and phishing platform allows you to send fully simulated tech support scams so you can see which users answer the emails and/or click on links in them or open infected attachments. If you have a Platinum subscription you can even send them "vishing" attacks straight to the phone on their desk.

See it for yourself and get a live, one-on-one demo.