Confirmed: Russia did not hack into Vermont electrical grid, DHS says

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed late Saturday that Russian hackers did not breach the Vermont electrical grid, despite the Washington Post reporting Friday that they had done so.

After making their initial report Friday, the Post apparently forgot to contact the utility company in question — the Burlington Electric Department — to confirm whether or not Russian malware that infected one the company's computers actually breached into the city's power grid.

According to the utility company, it never did because the computer that was infected wasn't connected to the power system at the time. In comments to Politico, the DHS confirmed this.

"While our analysis continues, we currently have no information that indicates that the power grid was penetrated in this cyber incident," J. Todd Breasseale, DHS's assistant secretary for public affairs, told Politico.

"The laptop was not connected to the affected organization’s grid systems,” Breasseale added. "In fact, the organization performed immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal partner authorities."

Still, Breasseale said that the DHS's investigation remains ongoing.