US gas pipeline firms currently under major cyber attack: Report

Washington, May 7 (ANI): Computer networks belonging to American Natural Gas Pipeline companies are currently under a major cyber attack, according to alerts issued by the US Department of Homeland Security.

At least three confidential 'amber' alerts, the second most sensitive next to 'red', issued by DHS in late March warned of a 'gas pipeline sector cyber intrusion campaign' against multiple pipeline companies.

That fact was reaffirmed recently in a public, albeit less detailed, 'incident response' report from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT), an arm of DHS based in Idaho.

According to The Christian Science Monitor, it reiterated warnings in the earlier confidential alerts made directly to pipeline companies and some power companies.

"ICS-CERT has recently identified an active series of cyber intrusions targeting natural gas pipeline sector companies," the confidential April 13 alert warned.

"Multiple natural gas pipeline organizations have reported either attempts or intrusions related to this campaign. The campaign appears to have started in late December 2011 and is active today," it added.

In the recent public warning, ICS-CERT reaffirms that its 'analysis of the malware and artifacts associated with these cyber attacks has positively identified this activity as related to a single campaign from a single source.'

According to the paper, it goes on to broadly describe a sophisticated 'spear-phishing' campaign, an approach in which cyber attackers attempt to establish digital beachheads within corporate networks. (ANI)