Hackers Can Disable Electricity It's Real, Happened in Several Countries
Apart from being caused by technical problems, the electricity network can also be disabled by hacker. This does seem strange, because electricity is a very important facility for all countries.
Previously, CIA analyst Tom Donahue said attacks via the internet to paralyze the power grid in several cities had occurred. Although he emphasized that it did not happen in the United States.
Hackers Infiltrate Energy Network
Tom did not say which cities or countries had been victims. However, he only stated that the incident was an attempt by cybercriminals to carry out extortion.
“A case has occurred, a disturbance that caused power outages in several cities. We don’t know who the perpetrators are, but what is certain is that the intrusion was carried out via the internet network.”
Tom Donahue
At the end of 2022, hackers from Russia managed to attack a power plant from Ukraine which caused part of the city of Kiev (the Ukrainian capital) to experience blackouts.
This is the first time a cyber attack has managed to disrupt the power grid. This hacker apparently managed to get into the information network of three Ukrainian energy companies and ended up in a power outage that disturbed residents.
US is worried
The incident made the US wary, and continued to monitor every power generation facility or the like. Because this facility will be highly dependent on computers, if its security is easily penetrated, it will have a big impact. Especially if hackers don’t want to stop attacking power plants in that country.
The most recent similar case also occurred in June 2022, a group of hackers with the title Xenotime carried out their actions at a power plant in Uncle Sam’s country.
If hackers usually only target oil and gas companies, this group has attacked US electricity since 2022. There are so many locations of the electricity grid that are reportedly their targets.
But so far, according to a report from Dragos’ security bureau, no attempts have been made. But according to them, the government must also continue to be vigilant in dealing with the Xenotime group.