Cyberattacks Raise Alarm for U.S. Power Grid

Cyberattacks that have knocked out electric utilities in Ukraine, including one suspected hack earlier this month, have renewed concern that computer criminals could take down portions of the U.S. power grid.

That fear was underscored this week when senior administration officials said that teams of Russian hackers have “targeted critical infrastructure even beyond what they did” with political organizations in an attempt to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.

The Obama administration on Thursday announced sanctions that include expelling about three dozen Russians. Meanwhile, the FBI and Homeland Security said in a report that malicious Russian cybercampaigns continued after the election and a senior official said “Russia is not going to stop.”

A team of Russian hackers that has been linked to this year’s cyberbreach of the Democratic National Committee was also behind a successful attack in 2015 on three different utilities in Ukraine that caused unprecedented blackouts, according to government and independent security experts.