US officials say malware was found in operating systems of several US energy companies and announce sanctions for election interferenceUS accuses Russia of cyber-attack on energy sector and imposes new sanctionsThe US has accused Russia of a wide-ranging cyber-assault on its energy grid and other key parts of its infrastructure, as it stepped up sanctions on Russian intelligence for its interference in the 2016 elections. “Russia’s behaviour continues to trouble us and we are continuing to push back in meaningful ways,” a senior national security official said. As a result of Russia’s election interference, officials said that thousands of Russian-planted stories reached “millions of people online” during the US presidential campaign. The sanctions were also imposed for the role of Russian intelligence in distributing the NotPetya malware and ransomware which US officials attributed to Moscow in February. “These targeted sanctions are a part of a broader effort to address the nefarious attacks emanating from Russia.

Source: The Guardian March 15, 2018 15:02 UTC