Ukrainian power grid attack (2015)
The Ukrainian power grid attack, which notably occurred in December 2015, was a significant cyber-physical incident that disrupted Ukraine’s power distribution. It was one of the first public examples where a cyber attack led to real-world consequences by causing a widespread power outage.
Here’s a technical description of how the attack unfolded:
Technical Description |
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Initial compromise |
The attackers began with a spear-phishing campaign targeting employees of three Ukrainian regional power distribution companies. The emails contained Microsoft Office documents embedded with the BlackEnergy 3 malware. Once the documents were opened, the malware was delivered to the host computer. Once BlackEnergy was in the target’s system, it facilitated the delivery of KillDisk and other modules. KillDisk... |