Russian hackers penetrated a computer at the Burlington Electric Department that is not connected to the electrical grid, officials said.
Burlington Electric found out about the malware when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified them about a hacking campaign called Grizzly Steppe.
The utility scanned all of its computers on Thursday night and found the malware on a laptop computer not connected to the electric grid.
“We took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal officials of this finding,” the Burlington Electric Department said in a statement. “Our team is working with federal officials to trace this malware and prevent any other attempts to infiltrate utility systems. We have briefed state officials and will support the investigation fully.”
The Washington Post first reported the security breach on Friday night and said it “underlines the vulnerabilities of the nation’s electrical grid.” But both the city’s utility and state officials said the grid was not affected.
The malware was not actively used by the Russians to disrupt the grid, according to The Post.
It is not clear how long the malware was on the Burlington Electric computer before it was discovered.
“Burlington Electric did a good job of identifying it, finding it, and notifying appropriate officials, which is what prompted the Washington Post story,” said Chris Recchia, the commissioner of the Public Service Department. “The fact that this is at a utility obviously gives us heightened concern.”
Vermont’s utilities connect to the New England electric grid run by ISO New England.
Because this involves a foreign government and because the grid is interconnected, Recchia said, officials have been in touch with emergency management personnel from the state, regional, and federal levels.
“I think it’s really important for people to recognize that this was probably a good test of our current system in the sense that unrelated to grid operations, a laptop was still found and reported,” Recchia said.
“This is the world we live in now, and we are working with all our partners, state, federal, and regional to make sure we stay ahead of this. It’s not going to be a surprise to people that the grid itself is somewhat computer-operated and is just like any other computerized system, vulnerable to these type of attacks, and we need to stay ahead of it,” he added.
Russian hackers involved in previous attacks used fraudulent emails to obtain passwords to trick recipients to give up passwords, The Post reported.
Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Co-op also participated in the Department of Homeland Security’s rigorous “risk vulnerability assessment” and found no threat to electric grid systems.