State-sponsored Russian hackers have infiltrated hundreds of US electric suppliers, the Department of Homeland ngentot Security has said.
The hackers, who work for a shadowy organization called Dragonfly or Energetic Bear, 'could have thrown switches' and cut off power to customers, the DHS said.
The attack began in spring 2016, continued throughout 2017 and is likely still ongoing, investigators added.
State-sponsored Russian hackers broke into the systems of vulnerable contractors employed by utility companies before stealing credentials and using them to attack larger firms
Hackers targeted small companies with poor security measures employed by larger utility firms to update their IT systems or keep machinery running, WSJ reports.
The cyber-sleuths used phising emails and 'watering hole' attacks to dupe unsuspecting employees into entering their details.
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Once inside the networks of the smaller companies, hackers stole employee credentials and used them to work their way up the supply chain to the utility firms.
The fact that they were using legitimate credentials made the attacks difficult to detect and means that many companies still do not know they were targeted.
Hackers then began hoovering up information on the networks such as how the networks were configured, what kit was in operation and how it was controlled.
The hackers managed to work their way into the control rooms of hundreds of power utility companies and 'could have thrown switches', the DHS says
They also spent time familiarizing themselves with how the systems work on a day-to-day basis in order to learn how to disrupt them.
Michael Carpenter, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, said the hackers are 'positioning themselves for a limited or widespread attack'.
The news comes after President Trump was widely condemned over his summit with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, and in particular when he backed the Russia President over his own security agencies when it came to election meddling.
Trump faced a backlash from both sides of the aisle and some of his political supporters who branded it the 'worst mistake of his presidency'.
Since then he has put out a contradictory series of statements, both appearing to walk back from his remark and double-down on it.
The President's opponents have long accused him of being in the back pocket of Russia and argue that he cannot be trusted to stand up for the US in confrontations with Putin.
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