Crowds Gather at Times Square for New Year's Celebration; Russian Malware Found on Vermont Electricity Company Laptop; Congressional Leaders Calling for Action against Russian Cyber-Attacks on U.S.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You did say the crowds are already packing in. That is for sure. They stretch for blocks that way. And the ball drop isn't for 10 hours. And the ball drop will be a few blocks this way. So we have all of these people lined up here. These people camping out. I have talked to people who are way in the front here as we get closer to the ball. They have been here since 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. You guys, when did you get here to get these pretty prime spots?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've been down here since noon, and they opened up the gates at 1:00.</s>SCHNEIDER: You had to go through security screenings to get in here, right?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.</s>SCHNEIDER: What did they do?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You unzip your jackets and you just, hopefully you make it through.</s>SCHNEIDER: And you did make it through. You got a good spot here. And that is just part of the security screening out here. Police have really amped up their security this year because of some of the terrorist attacks overseas that have happened. In fact the new addition this year is 65 sanitation trucks that will be set up around the perimeter. Over on Eighth Avenue we have seen a few of them. They will be set up all over Times Square. They'll be filled with sand and they would act as a blockade. There are also 100 other blockade vehicles that will be used, double what was used last year. And then you've got some other numbers -- 7,000 NYPD officers that will be out throughout the city, including 550 who are newly graduated from the police academy. And then, you have the pens with all the crowds. There are 65 of these pens all over Times Square with many excited spectators. The police here expecting to fill these pens with about 3,000 people. So there is a lot of activity here in Times Square. You can see there is where the ball drops. And there are all the people here. There are also counterterrorism officials who will be out here monitoring 14 access points. Down at One Police Plaza, the headquarters just downtown, about 30 officials from city and state and federal agencies, they will be monitoring all of the video feeds that come in from all of the cameras here around Time Square. So a lot of security and preparation that goes into this huge event. This year, the security even more stepped up. But these people, they have gone through it. They are excited. And it just took about 10 hour toss go until this ball drops.</s>FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. They are the lucky ones with a great vantage point. All right, thank you so much Jessica Schneider. We will check back with you. Now, to new tensions between Russian -- the Russian government and the U.S. government. We are learning the same malicious software used by Russian hackers to meddle in the U.S. election has been found on a laptop belonging to a Vermont utility company. Burlington Electric says the laptop was not connected to the power grid but did call this an attempt to infiltrate utility systems. Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin lashing out at Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying, quote, "Vermonters and all Americans should be both alarmed and outraged that one of the world's leading thugs, Vladimir Putin, has been attempting to hack our electric grid which we rely upon to support our quality of life, economy, health and safety," end quote. CNN's Polo Sandoval is following this story and joins me now live. Polo, the governments are trying to sort out how far-reaching this intrusion might be, and I mean U.S. government, local governments as well.</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. A lot of questions around this one, what is the scope of this, what was the intent, and, of course, was this an isolated incident? One U.S. government official told my colleague Jim Sciutto that those are questions they just don't have answers to, at least not yet, as an investigation presses forward. What we do know is that Burlington Electric, the company involved in this, apparently detected what is malicious software on one of their company laptop computers. It's important to note that computer, according to these officials, was not directly connected into the power grid that is crucial for about 20,000 people there in the northeast. And they also understand that their customer lists were not compromised either. So that's still a question as to what that malicious software was doing in that computer, the so-called Grizzly Steppe. And it sounds familiar. That is because that is that same malicious software that was reportedly used by Russian hackers to attempt to affect or at least sway the November election. While this is not expected to have extreme impacts, this is still causing several concerns, not just among the governor, which you mentioned a few moments ago, but also some lawmakers. For example, Patrick Leahy, senator form Vermont, released a statement after these developments came to light in which he says this is beyond hackers having electronic joyrides. This is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter. This is a direct threat to Vermont and we do not take it lightly." Fred?</s>WHITFIELD: Polo Sandoval, thank you so much. Vladimir Putin stayed away from the allegations against Russia in his annual New Year's message. CNN's senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joining me now from Moscow. So Matthew, who does this message catered to?</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there has been a couple of messages. There's been one message to the Russian people, congratulating them on the end of 2016. That message has already gone out on local television stations across eastern Russia where, of course, it is already a New Year. Here in Moscow it's not midnight yet. There has also been another message that went out as a written statement to world leaders congratulating them on the New Year as well, the queen of England, the president of France, the chancellor of Germany. One notable absentee was President Obama. He wasn't mentioned at all in that congratulations list. But Donald Trump was, the president-elect of the United States. And it again reinforces this idea that Vladimir Putin has been hammering home over the course of the past 24 hours is that he is ignoring what's happening with the Obama administration. He ignored the expulsion effectively of those 35 Russian diplomats by President Barack Obama in response to the allegations of election hacking by Russian hackers. And he reached out, instead, to Donald Trump, saying that the future of the relationship between Russia and the United States is going to be determined by the policy of the Trump administration. And for one, Donald Trump applauded that, of course, yesterday issuing that tweet in which he said it was a good move and that he always thought that Vladimir Putin was very clever. So I think Putin is probably very satisfied with that response, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you. In the meantime, a fight is brewing between Republicans and the president-elect. Senator John McCain is holding a hearing next week on cyber-threats, all while Donald Trump refuses to criticize Vladimir Putin for the election hack. We'll look at what to expect next week. And the New Year is already here in parts of the world. This was the celebration in Taipei, Taiwan, about an hour and a half ago. A huge fireworks display over the Taipei 101 Tower, ushering in 2017.