Researcher: Power grid hackers likely got inside by attacking PCs

The hackers who reportedly planted malware on key parts of the U.S. electrical grid, perhaps with the intent to cripple the country's power infrastructure, most likely gained access like any other cybercriminal -- by exploiting a bug in software such as Windows or Office, a security researcher said Wednesday.

"Any computer connected to the Internet is potentially vulnerable," said Roger Thompson, the chief research officer of AVG Technologies. "Getting to the actual infrastructure devices directly, that's always possible, but a whole lot less likely. In any industry, critical or not, there are always plenty of PCs that have been compromised."

According to a report earlier Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, unnamed national security sources say that hackers from China, Russia and elsewhere have penetrated the U.S. power grid, extensively mapped it and installed malicious tools that could be used to further attack not only the electrical infrastructure, but others as well, including water and sewage systems.

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