German authorities warn energy companies of Russian hacking

The Federal Offices for the Protection of the Constitution and for Information Security have warned energy companies of a wave of attacks launched by Russian hackers on electricity networks, tagesschau.de reports. According to German authorities, Russian hackers have partially succeeded in penetrating energy companies’ office networks. The federal offices would not say how many firms were affected, but the regional public broadcaster WDR reported that more than 100 were hacked. In the summer of 2017, the Federal Office for Information Security warned power producers and other companies of evidence of multiple hacker groups’ work to penetrate their networks. At present, there is no acute threat to the national energy supply system, according to the authorities.

Read the article in German here.

Find the BSI press release in German here.

For background, read the dossier Digitalisation ignites new phase in energy transition.