Russian hackers breached Poland’s power grid due to poor security, report says

The Polish government has said that Russian hackers have hacked into some of the country’s electrical infrastructure, taking advantage of its security.

On Friday, the Polish Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), which is part of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, released a technical report about what happened late last year, when suspected Russian hackers hacked wind and solar farms and thermal and power plants. According to reports, the hackers faced many challenges. The systems they reviewed used default usernames and passwords and lacked multi-factor authentication, all basic errors.

Hackers tried to destroy the systems they entered with wiper malware designed to wipe and destroy systems, possibly trying to disable power, though it’s unclear if that was their intention. In any case, the attacks were stopped at heat and power plants, but not at wind and solar farms, whose systems for monitoring and controlling the grids were compromised by the malware.

The report said: “All of the incidents were destructive in nature – compared to Earth, they can be compared to arson.”

The hijackers failed to disrupt the power at any location they targeted. And even if successful, the report said the hack “would not have affected the stability of the Polish electricity system during the period under discussion.”

Cybersecurity companies ESET and Dragos They previously released reports on the attacks, which took place on December 29 last year, and blamed the notorious Russian government group Sandworm as the mastermind behind the hack. Sandworm has a documented record of targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine and blackouts in the country 2015, 2016and 2022.

Poland’s CERT, however, blamed another Russian hacking group, known as Berserk Bear or Dragonflywhich is not known for malicious attacks, but rather for traditional cyberespionage.