EirGrid is a state-owned company that manages and operates the transmission grid across the island of Ireland. The company was recently targeted by ‘state sponsored’ hackers leaving EirGrid internal network exposed to cyber attack. It was allegedly compro
EirGrid is a state-owned company that manages and operates the transmission grid across the island of Ireland. EirGrid was recently targeted by ‘state-sponsored’ hackers leaving its internal network exposed to cyber attack. It was allegedly compromised in April 2017. The attackers hacked by infiltrating a Vodafone network used by the company. It helped them to intercept all unencrypted communications, by installing malicious software, flowing through its web routers in Wales and Northern Ireland, Independent.ie reported. Vodafone had exposed the breach with the help of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an arm of British intelligence, before telling the electricity provider last month. The security services have claimed that the incident was a 'state-sponsored' mission.There is no public evidence yet to support the attack. The hacking groups have been known to target national infrastructure including electric grids. The incident occurred in Ukraine in 2015 is marked as the most high-profile case, alleged to be by Russia.EirGrid circulates wholesale power around the country. Energy is also brought from generation stations to heavy industry and high-tech users. The company also supplies the distribution network operated by ESB Networks that powers every electricity customer in Ireland.Independent.ie reported on Sunday (6 August) that "all communications," and files leaving an EirGrid Interconnector site in Wales that relied on Vodafone's hacked Direct Internet Access (DIA) service were "monitored and may be interrogated."Reports suggest that the breach took place on April 20th. But it is quite unclear whether any malicious software had been installed on grid’s control systems. If the breach is confirmed, it will become the worst scenario for EirGrid.Independent.ie report states that the network of SONI – which is headquartered in Belfast – was also compromised by the hackers, but it remained unclear to what extent. The hacker’s IP addresses gave the clue that the attack is from Ghana and Bulgaria. However, these were made unclear by software. Therefore, the Police department denies the attack from either of countries mentioned and the IP addresses were shown are supposed to be fake.David Martin, the spokesperson for EirGrid Group, said: "At EirGrid Group, the security of our computer network and the electricity control system is an utmost priority.”"It is EirGrid Group's policy not to comment publicly on specific operational matters related to cyber security, however, we are aware of the currently reported focus on energy companies and national infrastructure and wish to state that our computer systems have not been breached."A Vodafone spokesman said:“Vodafone does not comment on specific security incidents. In such cases, we always work closely with the relevant authorities to investigate and take immediate actions to contain the issue and protect our customers.”On 17 July 2017, an official NCSC report obtained by technology website Motherboard revealed that GCHQ has already warned its partners about energy sector attack."The NCSC is aware of connections from multiple UK IP addresses to infrastructure associated with advanced state-sponsored hostile threat actors, who are known to target the energy and manufacturing sectors," the leaked report stated, without naming individual targets.