US claims power grid hacks by China and Russia

The American secret service says it has found software in the US electricity grid of, among other things, Chinese and Russian origin. It would be intended to gain knowledge but in theory can cause damage.

The programs found are more likely to be classified as spyware than malware, according to an anonymous high-ranking source of the American intelligence service opposite The Wall Street Journal, and according to him are mainly intended to map the network. Last year, a significant amount of hacks are said to have taken place, from China and Russia, as well as from other unnamed countries. It is feared that the water supply, nuclear power plants and financial systems could also be infiltrated.

The Wall Street Journal sources admit that the motivation of the hackers is not well understood. The software found could be potentially dangerous, they say, and analysis of the programs would have shown that some of them could be ‘triggered’ to shut down parts of the network, for example in the event of a war. However, China’s willingness to go this far is questioned: after all, China is dependent on purchases by American consumers and the US also has debts there.

Hacks of electricity grids in the US were also detected last year. However, then the CIA stated that extortion was the motivation behind it.