The FBI warns of growing interest by Russian hackers in US energy companies since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to an FBI report obtained by the AP on Tuesday, Russian hackers scanned at least five energy companies and at least 18 other companies in sectors including defense and financial services for vulnerabilities. The FBI document does not identify the companies involved.
Scanning a network for errors or vulnerabilities is not uncommon and does not necessarily mean a cyberattack is imminent. However, such activity can be a precursor to an attack. The FBI warning, dated Friday, underscores the US administration under President Joe Biden’s heightened cybersecurity concerns over the Russian war in Ukraine.
On Monday, the White House said intelligence information indicated that Russia was considering cyberattacks on critical infrastructure in the United States. Assistant White House Security Advisor for Cybersecurity Anne Neuberger expressed frustration at a news conference that some critical infrastructure facilities are failing to fix known software bugs that could be exploited by Russian hackers.
The FBI report includes 140 IP addresses that have been linked to scanning critical US infrastructure since at least March 2021. The activities had increased with the beginning of the Ukraine war, it said. The IP addresses would be associated with cyber actors who had developed “destructive cyber activities against foreign critical infrastructure” in the past.