Its the citys gate that once divided between east and west germany. We begin with the potential new hacking attempt from russia, this time against an Electric Company in vermont. Burlington electric said malicious malware discovered one of its laptops and u. S. Authorities believe its the same malware Russian Hackers used to meddle in the president ial election. Maintained none of the info has been compromised and officials involved in the investigation say they dont think it was an attempt to bring down part of the electric grid. Cnns Paulo Sandoval with more. Within the last hour, i talked to general manager of Burlington Electric and youve been following the story and talking to officials as well. What stood out in your mind in terms of how he described the risk and the danger of what has occurred . With that general manager confirmed much of what we were hearing from several sources t about how this was initially discovered. Department of Homeland Security that initially sent out advisory to several utility organizations and several entities across the country asking they be out an alert for cyber threat and initially sent the note and know theres least one utility company, the one we talked about there, the Burlington Electric in burlington, vermont, that did in fact notice something on their system, one of their laptops that was not connected to the rest of their system. These codes that was linked to grizzly step which is the name that was used by the department of Homeland Security to refer to recent russian hacking campaigns. The text at that Vermont Company ran a search for the particular code and sure enough, noticed a suspicious ip address. I want you to hear from the general manager, the conversation you had with him as he explains what he and the rest of those technicians did immediately after noticing the suspicious code. We were able to intercept the traffic as soon as we could and pulled the computer off before we believed it was able to do any other activity on the system, ultimately, further investigation into that but no indication that there was any compromise. Thats Burlington Electric there, just confirming that they dont have any reason to believe that any of the customer information and mainly their grid itself was not compromised and suzanne, this latest information now that just came in a few moments ago from one of our colleagues, evan perez, after he spoke to a Law Enforcement source close to this investigation now saying that they do not believe that this was an attempt to specifically target or bring down that electric grid that serves up to 20,000 people. Thats a key question here. Why was this Malicious Software found on the computer and new reporting from the colleague, it doesnt seem they were trying to cripple the electric grid. Good news out of this. Thank you so much, appreciate it. This new threat comes just two days after president obama announced brand new sanctions against russia for elections hacking our own athena jones and president obama is vacationing in hawaii, a working vacation, of course. Give us a sense of what the president is expected to do. Hes got three weeks left in office. Do we think that he has more coming on the cyber hacking . Reporter hi, suzanne. We know from the white house when they announce those actions the other day, they said this does not represent the sum total of our response to russias aggressive activities. Thats how they put it. That means we can expect more covert measures to be taken at a time of their choosing and these are measures that were not necessarily going to hear about and not announced. One thing we know thats coming that will be made public is this full review that president obama has asked the intelligence agencies for a full review, not just into russias efforts to affect this past election but also, malicious cyber activity related to our election cycle in previous elections. That report which will be released to congress is expected or information we expect to get on this cyber hacking issue. Sure. And athena anderson, the president is also going to come back to washington and really try to sit down with members of the Democratic Party to try to protect what is potentially the biggest item, most significant of his legacy. That is, obamacare. Can you tell us about whats behind that . Reporter thats right. Hes coming next week. Hell be meeting with House Democrats and Senate Democrats together on capitol hill on wednesday to try to strategize a way to push back that gop effort to repeal the Affordable Care act, this, as you noted, the president s signature domestic achievement and they have been pushing for people to continue to sign up for obamacare saying that any changes that are made wont be made immediately and also the thinking that you already have 20 million plus people who are benefitting from this law. The more people benefitting, the harder it might be for republicans to dismantle it but we already know from republicans that this is at the top of their agenda. Democrats are going to be talking about ways they can fight back. We know theres going to be a day of action, we know that members of congress, democratic members of congress are planning Public Events features people who have benefitted from this law. So that is one thing thats high on the president s agenda trying to do whatever he can to protect that key legacy item. Suzanne . Looks absolutely gorgeous out there. Please try to enjoy the last hours that you have out there for the new year. Thank you very much. Happy new year. Happy new year. Thanks. And ive been tracking president elect trumps transition efforts as we head into the new year. Heres how team trump wrapped up 2016. Take a look. Thank you very much. Reporter its just the latest road block to a smooth transition. Donald trump praising Vladimir Putin tweeting, great move on delay by v. Putin. I always knew he was very smart. Trump applauding putins remarkable move to wait for trump to make office before responding to president obamas decision to expel Russian Diplomats and new sanctions. This comes on the heels of a back and forth week in which trump has blasted president obama, tweeting he thought it was going to be a smooth transition, not. To trump saying it was going smoothly. I just want to thank everybody. Reporter now the president elect and his team characterizing the current white houses showdown with russia as politically motivated. Even those who are sympathetic to president obama on most issues are saying that part of the reason he did this today was to quote, box in president elect trump. That would be very unfortunate if that were the, if politics were the motivating factor here. Reporter trumps team continuing to dismiss the u. S. Intelligence assessment on russian Cyber Attacks. Weve been talking about this for a while. I think that, you know, all we heard all through the election was russia, russia, russia. Whenever it came to anything donald trump did or said most days and now, you know, since the election, its just this fever pitch of accusations and insinuations. Amazing people. Reporter trump said hell meet with leaders of the Intelligence Community for a briefing on the hacking matter but support trumper former new york mayor Rudy Giuliani suggesting the president elect not bother. I would urge President Trump when he becomes President Trump have his own intelligence people do their own report, lets find out who did it and then lets bang them back really hard. Reporter now set for a direct confrontation with his own party. As Top Senate Republicans john mccain and Lindsey Graham prepare to hold hearings and consider harsher sanctions against russia with a new congress returns. But trumps incoming chief of staff, reince priebus, warns the American People may not have the appetite for another conflict. They may be privy to information we dont know but i also know were not interested in going to war all over the world either. Reporter up next, just six hours until the ball drops in New York Times square and of course, welcoming in 2017. Live pictures we look at here times square. Jam packed, people excited for the new year coming up. Its going to be an incredible night. One that also has people, however, on edge. Going to talk about what police are doing to keep everyone safe out there. That up next. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. When a cold calls. Achoo . Answer it. With zicam cold remedy. It shortens colds, so you get better, faster. Colds are gonna call. Answer them with zicam zicam. Get your better back. Now in great tasting crystals. And for fast acting nasal relief, for up to 12 hours, try zicam extreme Congestion Relief and zicam intense sinus relief. For colds and allergies, get your better back with zicam. More than a million partiers crowded into times square before the countdown to midnight. New york city stepped up security to keep them safe and learned lessons from terror attacks in europe. One example, the nypd is deploying 65 sand trucks weighing 40 tons each to block moving vehicles. Still, officials stress they have no Credible Threats tonight. Joining me live from tampa is former new york state Homeland Security advisor michael balboni. So tonight is a big night, probably a little stressful for some folks. Give us a sense of how you keep these huge events like times square, the celebration there, how do you make sure that its okay, that people can breathe easy a little bit . Well, suzanne, all the adages of practice makes perfect and certainly, new york city has had a lot of practice dealing with all sorts of big events from national convention, Republican National convention and pope visits and they do this event every single year and its all about control. Its all about knowing where the perimeters are. Its all about resources and new york city pd is probably the best in the world in turning out officers who understand the tempo and the dynamic of the event but as you said, there are lots of lessons to be learned from around the world to what type of attacks could be thought about for this year. And we noticed as our report noticed and separate fenced off areas which we called pens. What does that tell us about the biggest vulnerability of these kinds of events . Well, you really try to take off the table is a truck attack, a vehicle born improvise and explosive device and thats why you dont have parked cars anywhere near this area itself and have a lot of technology deployed. Tv cameras. You also have the Old Fashioned undercover officers. The individual standing next to you might not in fact be a new years eve reveler but office of the pd and tremendous coordination with other assets and what you also need is intelligence. Folks from outside looking whats gone on before the event and of course, folks inside. And tell us more about these truck attacks because we have seen them take place in europe. We see how devastating they can be. Explain how dangerous a weapon that is and a simple form but can do a lot of damage. So al qaeda has been putting out this magazine for years called inspire magazine and in it they have suggested means of attacks. One of them is the Pressure Cooker bomb we saw in the Boston Marathon bombing and in the chelsea attacks but also talked about using a truck to simply run down people and weve seen that in france and we saw it in canada and so this is certainly opportunistic attacks. They need to have control of the vehicle and be in a position to use it against unarmed vulnerable citizens and thats what youre taking off the table when you put out a perimeter of the sand trucks and controlling any type of vehicular traffic in the area. And police, of course, they only have a limited amount of resources. If theyre determined to keep times square safe and we see what it entails there, how do we know other areas are more vulnerable to attack and might be a cost . Sure. That is a Perfect Question in this dynamic threat environment. For the first time, a president elect who has come to power in new york and normally, not tonight but normally, and a lot of assets around the world. How do you protect those assets and also, a lot of divisiveness and we know enemies want to try to exploit that and more over, it is the year of the lone wolf, as weve seen. You talk about the San Bernardino and orlando, some of the attacks in europe and the individuals who become radicalized and then go out and attack. They dont give notice of it. Theyre not on the radar screens of Security Forces generally speaking and they have not done something that requires them to be now put in custody. Those are the hardest persons to predict and track. Michael balboni. We wish you a safe new year and thank you for your hard work, effort, and analysis. Please be safe. Happy new year. Happy new year. When you hear about a computer hack, its usually about someone who is stealing information but a hack can also do some serious damage. Were going to look at the cyber threat with the potential to knock out power to entire cities or regions. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Rodney and his new business. He teaches lessons to stanley. And thats kind of it right now. But rodney knew just what to do. He got quickbooks. It organizes all his accounts, so he knows where he stands in an instant. Ahhh. Thats a profit. Which gave him the idea to spend a little cash on some brilliant marketing ha, clever. Wow, look at all these new students way to grow, rodney know where you stand instantly. Visit quickbooks. Com. Anything with a screen is a tv. Stream 130 live channels. Plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. You can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. Only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. Download the xfinity tv app today. Vermont Power Company said none were hacked by malware discovered on a computer but its the exact same type believed used by russia in an attempt to influence the u. S. President ial election. Investigators dont believe it was an attempt to bring down part of the electric grid. Cnns debra faric. U. S. Critical infrastructure and the let is not only real but it has happened. And a recent pugh study said 94 fear a cyber attack second only to an attack by isis. So what happened is one of these large breakers or several of these large breakers were operated remotely by the attacker. It was the first known cyber attack of its kind. Three attacks. 30 minutes apart. Against three electrical substations serving ukraines power grid. This is not theoretical. This has happened. Weve now had a cyber attack on Critical Infrastructure that was destructive. Destructive and a real threat to the United States, says suzanne spalding, in charge of protecting the nations 16 Critical Infrastructure sectors. A power outage impacts everything. From air Traffic Control to subways and traffic lights, cell phones, computers, water and food supplies. Cnn was given rare access to a government facility in idaho pals and a team led by Marty Edwards is busy identifying hackers and trying to stop them. Is it difficult for some sort of a cyber attacker to take down a power grid . Its much more simple than we would like it to be. Reporter to show us just how simple it is, the cyber team recreated the ukraine attack. A hacker using a common email phishing scam steals an employees credentials, takes full control of the power grid and shuts it down. In the ukraine, power was knocked out to several of their substations. Correct. Reporter could that happen here . You know, it could. All of our infrastructures are run by these computerized systems. Reporter underscoring americas vulnerability, the malicious code identified as having played a role in ukraines attack is the same code dhs recently admitted is in hundreds if not thousands of u. S. Computer systems that control Critical Infrastructure. The code known as black energy has been linked to russia. There are Companies Across the country and this is not just with respect to Electricity Companies that dont fully appreciate the nature of the threat. Reporter 75 to 80 of the nations Critical Infrastructure is owned and operated by private sector companies, despite many warnings, dhs says some companies have failed to take even basic cybersecurity measures. It comes down to a business decision for the company. Reporter a business decision that could allow attackers not only to turn off the lights but to destroy the machinery as well. Im standing on the actual testing site of the generator, the first test of its kind to prove that a cyber attacker could gain control of the generator and cause it to selfdestruct. If an attack would happen on a generator, how long would it take to a plant to get back online . Some of the Electrical Equipment takes years to manufacture. Reporter dhs trained more than 11,000 people in the private and government sector how to better secure their systems, that includes limiting Remote Access to those who need it and if there is an attack, worst case scenario, the only w