The US Treasury Department is also linking the creators behind Triton with scanning and probing at least 20 US electric facilities for vulnerabilities.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) The US is sanctioning a Russian government research center for allegedly developing Triton, a malware attack capable of disrupting IT systems at factories and power plants. On Friday, the US Treasury Department sanctioned the Central Scientific Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (also known as CNIIHM or TsNIIKhM) on claims the Russian center had a hand in creating Triton. The malware grabbed headlines in 2017 for hitting a petrochemical facility in Saudi Arabia in an apparent act of industrial sabotage. According to security researchers, the attack initially arrived via a phishing email. Triton can tamper with a facility’s industrial controls, causing the systems to ignore hazardous conditions or shut down a power plant.
