Report: Vermont Utility Penetrated by Russian Hacking Operation

Have you heard the saying, ���Just because you���re paranoid doesn���t mean you���re not being watched?���

Well, just because the Russians may not have ���hacked��� the U.S. election as is popularly claimed...does not mean they���re not out there trying to carry out a variety of nefarious deeds against the interests of America.

The country must work more diligently than ever to protect itself from hacking attacks of all kinds, and from a wide variety of sources ��� non-state political actors, rogue states, criminal gangs, and even rival nations.

As for the threats posed by superpower rivals like China and Russia, they remain one of the top priorities of the American agencies devoted to keeping the nation secure. On that note, a variety of news outlets, including The Washington Post, are reporting that malicious software, or ���malware,��� found on a computer belonging to Burlington Electric, one of Vermont���s utility service providers, has been traced to Russia.

According to Christopher Recchia, commissioner of Vermont���s Public Service Department, the malware was discovered on a laptop that was not connected in any way to the electrical power grid.

���The grid is not in danger. The utility flagged it, saw it, notified appropriate parties and isolated that one laptop with that malware on it,��� said Recchia.

Still, the existence of the code at all anywhere inside of a U.S. utility is highly disconcerting. Although the grid may not have been at risk in this instance, no such hacking effort would have been made in the first place unless the ultimate goal was to find a way to access the power grid.

Part of what makes the nation���s electrical grid so vulnerable is that much of it operates on more dated computer networks that can present a distinct challenge to safeguard.

While American officials have said they do not know the Russians��� intentions in the installation of this code, they admit that whatever they were, they clearly were not good ��� it was either to wreak havoc on Burlington Electric���s operations, specifically, or to see just close they can come to launching a direct attack on the power grid.

 By Robert G. Yetman, Jr. Editor At Large