US AND RUSSIA CLASH OVER POWER GRID ‘HACK ATTACKS’
RUSSIA has said it is “possible” that its electrical grid is under cyber-attack by the US.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said reports that US cyber-soldiers had put computer viruses on its electrical grid was a “hypothetical possibility”.
His comments came in response to a New York Times (NYT) story which claimed US military hackers were targeting Russian power plants.
The report drew scepticism from experts and a denunciation by President Trump. In its report the newspaper said American “code” had been deployed inside many elements of Russia’s power network.
The Times said this was an escalation of other work the US was doing to combat Russian disinformation and hacking campaigns.
Mr Peskov said President Trump had dismissed the allegations made in the Times, calling them “fake news”.
The Kremlin spokesman added: “If one assumes that some government agencies do this without informing the head of state, then of course this may indicate that cyber-war against Russia might be a hypothetical possibility.”
He said “vital areas” of Russia’s economy were under continuous attack, but it had managed to counter the intrusions so they did no damage. The NYT story was questioned by Thomas Rid, a political scientist from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, who said it made no sense because “publicity burns capabilities”.
The story would prompt Russia to search its power network extensively for malicious code, he said, making it likely that any viruses would be found. He added that the Russian power grid was big and “exceedingly complex” making it very hard for cyber-attackers to get in and leave any virus in place for a long time.
The malicious code was reportedly inserted by soldiers of the US Cyber Command. This group of military hackers is permitted to carry out “clandestine military activity” on computer networks under the aegis of the National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed in 2018.
The US has been probing Russian power systems since 2012, reported the NYT, but was now more interested in finding weaknesses and inserting viruses.
The mother-of-one from south east Wales was a victim of romance fraud, a crime which police say grew by nearly a third last year.
Now the woman has spoken out about falling for the charms of the man she had initially been suspicious of.
“I just felt like I was emotionally blackmailed,” she added.
She said her “lonely” mother had started an online relationship with the man, who said he was French and called Jean Marc.
But when he told her he needed help after being robbed on a business trip to Ivory Coast, the daughter became suspicious.
“I said to my mum ‘don’t you dare send him any money’. I said ‘he’s a scammer’,” the woman told the BBC Wales X-Ray programme.
But her opinion changed after she spoke to the man herself.
“His voice was so lovely, so soft. He started with his stories and my heart just melted,” she said.
She asked questions about his circumstances but Jean Marc had answers for all of them. He even sent her a photo, that looks edited, showing him in a hospital bed.
“I sent him the first money. I didn’t even tell my mum, I did it because I wanted her to be happy,” she said.
She sent 800 Euros (about £712) last summer and went on to make 21 further payments, totalling £40,000 until she realised she had been scammed.
She is now heavily in debt after maxing out credit cards and selling her mother’s jewellery and has little hope of seeing her money again. But she said the hardest part was telling her husband what had happened.
“I just couldn’t cope - it was killing that he didn’t know. I thought that’s going to be the end of our marriage,” she said.
“When I told him he didn’t even look at me. He only said I can’t believe you were so stupid.
“I just felt like I was emotionally blackmailed, I hope [people] will think twice before they believe in all the lies of the scammers.”