5 ms·

Doesn't every cyberattack get attention from the U.S. government? After all, carrying out a cyberattack is a federal crime.

adventured 5y ago
How could it? There are thousands of cyberattacks against US companies and infrastructure every day. There are cyberattacks and then there's going after the most important domestic energy line of a superpower. This is quite different from your run of the mill cyberattack, they're not all created equal.
- pm90 5y ago
  This is exactly right. It all depends on the attention these attacks get. Now that they've had a tangible effect on the news cycle, creating concern about the safety of US energy infrastructure, there will be more incentives for the Government to hunt them down and get credit for doing so. I think I read somewhere that China based attackers have already penetrated networks of major US infrastructure systems but didn't do anything because whats the point of wrecking havoc now? Better wait for more opportune times. Which also seems to indicate that this may not be a Nation State... they would be after a bigger prize than some bitcoins.
  - Arcturis 5y ago
    I think it's 50/50 some real gang vs a branch of the NSA who sees how pwned the US infrastructure is and wants to make a (fairly harmless) splash so we take it more seriously and patch our shit.
    - pm90 5y ago
      Wouldn't the NSA branch be "disciplined" if they were found out? Seems risky.
BuyMyBitcoins 5y ago
Yes, in the sense that it gets reported to law enforcement and investigative agencies. Without being specific, I was a victim of identity theft and cybercrime. My incident was “reported to the FBI” but I’ve literally never heard anything back from them. In practical terms there needs to be something special about the cyberattack for the government to devote any resources towards it.
raister 5y ago
I'm going to link this here: https://attack.mitre.org/ https://attack.mitre.org/ Those are only the reported attacks. You could check groups as well, and their TTPs.
Rapzid 5y ago
Not this kind of attention. Oil pipelines are considered critical energy infrastructure. This will likely be viewed as a national security threat. The US government will have to respond to deter others. They have "poked the bear".
tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
The difference between "the FBI will look into it if they find some spare time" and "you've made the top 10 target list of the NSA".

adventured 5y ago

How could it? There are thousands of cyberattacks against US companies and infrastructure every day. There are cyberattacks and then there's going after the most important domestic energy line of a superpower. This is quite different from your run of the mill cyberattack, they're not all created equal.

pm90 5y ago
This is exactly right. It all depends on the attention these attacks get. Now that they've had a tangible effect on the news cycle, creating concern about the safety of US energy infrastructure, there will be more incentives for the Government to hunt them down and get credit for doing so. I think I read somewhere that China based attackers have already penetrated networks of major US infrastructure systems but didn't do anything because whats the point of wrecking havoc now? Better wait for more opportune times. Which also seems to indicate that this may not be a Nation State... they would be after a bigger prize than some bitcoins.
- Arcturis 5y ago
  I think it's 50/50 some real gang vs a branch of the NSA who sees how pwned the US infrastructure is and wants to make a (fairly harmless) splash so we take it more seriously and patch our shit.
  - pm90 5y ago
    Wouldn't the NSA branch be "disciplined" if they were found out? Seems risky.

BuyMyBitcoins 5y ago

Yes, in the sense that it gets reported to law enforcement and investigative agencies. Without being specific, I was a victim of identity theft and cybercrime. My incident was “reported to the FBI” but I’ve literally never heard anything back from them. In practical terms there needs to be something special about the cyberattack for the government to devote any resources towards it.

raister 5y ago

I'm going to link this here: https://attack.mitre.org/ https://attack.mitre.org/ Those are only the reported attacks. You could check groups as well, and their TTPs.

Rapzid 5y ago

Not this kind of attention. Oil pipelines are considered critical energy infrastructure. This will likely be viewed as a national security threat. The US government will have to respond to deter others. They have "poked the bear".

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago

The difference between "the FBI will look into it if they find some spare time" and "you've made the top 10 target list of the NSA".