Ukraine’s power grid attacked by Russian hacker group

A Russian hacker group has carried out a cyber attack on the country’s electricity grid, according to the Ukrainian government. It would be the hacker group Sandworm, to which cyber attacks have previously been attributed.

The power grid was attacked on the evening of April 8, according to the security service of Ukraine reports Bloomberg news agency. The attacks were aimed at damaging ‘high voltage substations, computers and network components’.

The attack was carried out in two waves. According to security researchers, the hackers gained access to the systems sometime between February and April. Damage to the electricity grid and underlying systems has been prevented, according to the Ukrainian authorities.

Experts from security firm ESET and Microsoft are helping with the investigation into the attack. According to the researchers, an attempt has been made to deploy ‘wiper’ software, which attempts to remove all data from systems and disable them. Attempts have also been made to take control of certain systems. According to ESET, the attackers were using a new version of the so-called Industroyer malware.

In 2017, Ukraine was also hit by a large-scale cyber attack. This was also attributed to the Russian hacker group Sandworm by American and British security services. Russia denies being involved in the attacks.