The nation’s top grid security watchdog is tracking a cyberattack that swept across much of Europe Tuesday, saying there is no indication of similar attacks against U.S. energy infrastructure.
“There are no indications of any similar attacks in North America,” Martin Coyne, spokesman for the congressionally created North American Electric Reliability Corporation, told the Washington Examiner.
The organization runs the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center that coordinates communication between the federal government and the electric utility industry on cyber and physical threats to the nation’s power grid. The organization is aware of the attacks on Ukraine’s electric grid in recent years and issued an alert to utilities this month warning of the possible cyberattack using ransomware.
“NERC’s Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center is aware of reported cyberattacks in Europe and continues to monitor the situation,” Coyne said. The organization issued a report this month that warned that such attacks targeting the utility industry have increased dramatically, although the U.S. has managed to thwart their effects so far.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the nation’s energy watchdog that oversees NERC, held an all-day conference in Washington last week to discuss the report’s findings. President Trump also met with the industry at the White House to discuss the threat of cyberattack on the electricity system.
Tuesday’s cyberattack targeted Russian oil giant Rosneft and dozens of other companies, but its primary target appeared to be the government of Ukraine. Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said the attack, using malicious ransomware software, appeared to be spreading over much of the globe, but the primary target was Ukraine.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry could not say much about the attack when asked by reporters during a press conference at the White House. He only said that he was aware of the events in Ukraine and said he did not know who was behind the attack.
He noted that a major grid report he is working on will address the threat of cyber and physical attacks to the grid. The study is expected out as soon as next week.
