Cyber Risks · Dragos Blog

COSMICENERGY Malware Is Not an Immediate Threat to Industrial Control Systems

Summary: Dragos analyzed COSMICENERGY, ICS malware that Mandiant named on May 25, 2023, which targets IEC 104 devices by exploiting Microsoft SQL servers connected to remote terminal units. Dragos concluded that, contrary to media headlines claiming power disruption or grid-crippling abilities, the malware is not an immediate threat to operational technology.

Why it matters: Headlines framed COSMICENERGY as a grid threat while the OT-specific analysis found it is not an immediate one, so a security leader who acted on the coverage rather than the technical assessment may have misdirected response effort. Dragos compares it to more concerning threats such as CRASHOVERRIDE and Industroyer2.

Read the original at Dragos Blog ↗

Topics
OT / ICS & Critical Infrastructure
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