14 DAY TRIAL // ISIS terrorists are trying, but miserably failing, to hack into US electrical companies, in hopes of shutting down services for US towns and businesses, as CBS 6 is reporting.
The news comes from John Riggi, FBI section chief for its cyber division, speaking at GridSecCon, a conference for US electrical companies that took place in Philadelphia between October 13 and 16.
The reason the hackers haven't succeeded is their low technical skillset, but the FBI official warns that this can be easily compensated by buying the needed tools on the black market.
Despite this, the FBI is not sounding the alarm just yet, mainly because if hackers manage to infiltrate the US power grid and do damage, they won't be able to affect more than a city block or entire town at once.
This is because the US power grid is made up of hundreds of power companies, each with its own network and internal structure, making it very difficult to port one security flaw from one company to the other.
Regardless of this, a more powerful attack is only around the corner, and just like the 9/11 attacks, the terrorists will be aiming to throw the US population in a panicked frenzy, rather than inflict country-wide damage to the power grid.
For now, the FBI and other agencies that watch over the US cyber-space are more concerned about state-powered hacking groups, and more specifically those financed by Kremlin.