DHS: No Investigation Planned for Electrical Grid Incursions

The subtext to a panel discussion during RSA is that risks to national infrastructure are fraught with political considerations.

RSA CONFERENCE 2019 – San Francisco – Despite concrete evidence of Russian infiltration of the US electrical grid and acknowledgment of the hacking by the US government, no formal investigation is planned, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official who spoke here at this weeks RSA Conference.
[Our] worldwide threat assessment looks at threats and capabilities, said Bob Kolasky, director of the National Risk Management Center, which is part of DHS. The complexity of the malware like what attacked Ukraines electrical grid is still largely theoretical, he added. We will look at whats going on, but we dont do technical investigations. We have some idea of the threat.
Pressed by an audience member about whether there was sufficient evidence and cause to investigate bad actors and vulnerabilities associated with the US electrical grid, Kolasky demurred. We jump on planes when were asked to jump on planes,” he said. Theres the reality of malware that [electrical grid operators] dont want on their systems.
Kolaskys comments were part of a panel discussion Monday night examining security challenges to critical infrastructure in the US. More than once, panelists invoked 9/11 and the many lessons learned around threat assessment, preparedness, and defense. Several also highlighted the ongoing challenges of getting multiple government entities to work together, share information, and decide who leads an investigation.
In other words, the politics of malware.
From a threat perspective, we start with nation-states – China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran – and look at what theyre interested in, Kolasky explained.
In general, he added, their intent is to advance their own industries and take out competitors. Russia, according to Kolasky, is most interested in undermining liberal democracy, whether its elections, social media, or just sowing general contempt. There are risks to information systems and information, he said. Where does it become an issue, undermining the economy and the nation? Thats the conversation we want to have.
The interlude over what might prompt the feds to mount a full-bore cybersecurity investigation was in contrast to the rest of the discussion, where panelists with long federal government resumés vigorously agreed plenty of progress has been made around information sharing among agencies and departments. They were also quick to add that plenty of challenges remain.
9/11 was the bloody nose for us – whats happened in counter-terrorism is really the model for cybersecurity going forward, said Brig. Gen. Francis X. Taylor,

who once served as undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at DHS and was the first CSO at General Electric Co. Just as the feds learned to work with and share information with local police departments after the 2001 attacks, federal agencies and departments can do a better job of working with their state and local counterparts and private-sector security pros, he said.
Taylor advocated for more sharing of unclassified information; whats less clear is who manages that or what the sharing platform should be. It takes a leader, and I think DHS is the right leader, he said, adding that information cant just be shared on a need-to-know basis – a common stalling tactic in the intelligence community. Information about cybersecurity needs to be always available, Taylor said.
Cybersecurity politics arent limited to the feds; highly regulated industries like oil and gas are extra cautious about what they do, noted Suzanne Lemieux
,
manager, midstream and industry operations, at the American Petroleum Institute, and another panelist. Our companies are limited in what they can share with each other as competitors [operating] under antitrust restrictions, she explained.
Lemieux noted improvements for cybersecurity, such as the formation of the ONG information analysis center. API members share threats they see with other industries, like with electrical grid opportunities, because oil and gas companies recognize theyre not the only targets.
We also have partnerships with DHS, TSA, and others, but [sharing information] is just as much a challenge outside the government, Lemieux said. Were trying to figure out what that model looks like.
Related Content:
DHS Officials: Hundreds of US Utility Victims Infiltrated by Russian Hackers
DHS Establishes Center For Defense of Critical Infrastructure
U.S. Defense, Critical Infrastructure Companies Targeted in New Threat Campaign
6 Steps for Sharing Threat Intelligence

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DHS: No Investigation Planned for Electrical Grid Incursions