Washington Post Report of Power Grid Hack by Russia Quickly Falls Apart

The Washington Post reported Friday that the U.S. power grid had been hacked by the same Russian actors accused of breaching the DNC – the only problem, the grid wasn’t hacked.

According to the report, malicious “code” associated with Grizzly Steppe, the name given to Russian hacking operations by the Obama administration, was found within the system of a utility company in Virginia.

“While the Russians did not actively use the code to disrupt operations, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a security matter, the discovery underscores the vulnerabilities of the nation’s electrical grid,” the article states.

The code, which was not specifically identified by the Post, was released by the FBI and DHS in a Joint Analysis Report (JNC) Thursday regarding the “tools and infrastructure” of the accused Russian hackers. The report provided a way for network administrators to examine their systems for malicious activity and other Indicators of Compromise (IOCs).

Soon after publication of the Post’s story, it was revealed that the malware had only infected a utility company laptop that had no access whatsoever to the electrical grid.

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