Hacking: Russian malware found on laptop at Vermont electric company.

Power grid not at risk, official says

Burlington, Vt. — The malicious software linked to a Russian hacking group associated with attempts to influence the U.S. presidential election has been found within a computer belonging to Burlington Electric, one of Vermont’s electrical utilities.

The utility found the malware on a laptop that was not connected to the operation of the grid, Vermont Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia said.

Recchia said Friday night he did not believe the electrical power grid was at risk from the incident.

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

Attacks on the nation’s electrical grid are among several infrastructure attack scenarios that worry officials and cyber security experts. Critical infrastructure systems are often run on older computer networks and often difficult to protect.

Ukraine has accused Russia of hacking into its electrical utilities and turning off power to several regions.

The Obama administration released code associated with the Russian hacking group, dubbed Grizzly Steppe, on Thursday.

The aim of the release was to allow utilities, companies and organizations to search their computers for the digital signatures of the attack code, to see if they, too, had been targeted.

That proved to be a good strategy, with the announcement Friday evening that the code had been found in Vermont. It is unclear if the penetration was an attempt to disrupt the utility or simply a test.

“We acted quickly to scan all computers in our system for the malware signature. We detected the malware in a single Burlington Electric Department laptop not connected to our organization’s grid systems. We took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal officials of this finding,” Mike Kanarick, spokesman for Burlington Electric Department, said in a statement.

The utility is working with federal officials to trace the malware and prevent any other attempts to infiltrate utility systems. It has also briefed state officials.