https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/beyond-colonial-pipeline-how-cyberattacks-could-shut-off-power-in-the-us/ar-BB1gAeNa?ocid=msedgntp
attack on grid next?
On Friday, the operator of Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline in the US, fell victim to a ransomware attack and ceased all pipeline operations. The disruption, which the FBI has attributed to the hacking group Darkside, has sparked concerns about gas shortages across multiple states. Though the Department of Transportation has issued an emergency declaration across 18 states and Washington, DC, the White House has cautioned against stocking up on gas and lining up at the pumps. Colonial Pipeline has said it expects to be largely back in service by the end of the week.
This is the second time this year that an important element of America's energy infrastructure has experienced a significant outage that could affect residents in multiple states.
In February, Texas experienced an extreme winter storm. The event caused energy facilities to fail and left millions of Texas residents, and those in neighboring states, without electricity or clean running water. That crisis exposed how vulnerable America's national energy infrastructure is to the effects of climate change and highlighted Texas' inability to adequately prepare for what was once considered a rare event.
Most of America's gas pipelines, electrical towers and power lines — like the ones that failed in Texas — aren't properly weatherized to handle extreme weather events, according to Joe Weiss, managing partner of Applied Control Solutions, a Cupertino, California, consultancy focused on automation systems. With climate change increasing the severity and frequency of natural disasters, it seems only a matter of time before another extreme weather event threatens the grid.
But climate change isn't the only threat to the outdated US power grid, which, according to an analysis of major power outages by research group Climate Central, hasn't been updated since the 1960s. The grid is also vulnerable to cyberattacks, like the one on Colonial Pipeline, from hackers working remotely to interfere with energy grid operations using just a few lines of code. There are risks, too, from backdoors built into the physical equipment, often purchased from foreign manufacturers and widely used across the country.