"Homeland Security Reports New Cyberattack On U.S. Utility"

"An unnamed U.S. utility was recently breached by cyberattackers who gained access to the utility's operational control system, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security reported this week.

The disclosure of a successful attack by a "sophisticated threat actor" on a U.S. utility was made in the quarterly cybersecurity report by ICS-CERT, which investigates threats to industrial control and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) computer systems, the brain centers for critical energy infrastructure installations.

ICS-CERT was able to work with the utility to deploy defenses that ensured the security of the control system "before there was any impact to operations," according to the agency.

A DHS spokesman declined to provide any details on the target or timing of the attack, which could have been directed against anything from a major electric power utility to a small municipal water utility."

Peter Behr reports for EnergyWire May 22, 2014.