The need to protect the power grid is heating up just like the temperature outside. Millions across the U.S. have been affected by the extreme heatwave blanketing states from the west coast to the midwest onto the east coast. On top of that, wildfires have broken out in California and New Mexico, and hurricane season is projected to be one of the worst in history. While this all spells many concerns, for our purposes it means that the country’s energy grid needs to be more resilient than ever before. Add on the rising threat cyberattacks on these critical infrastructure networks play, and you have a perfect storm.
THE CONVERGENCE OF WEATHER AND CYBERSECURITY
According to a study led by Johns Hopkins, the University of California, Berkeley, and the New York University (NYU) Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), hackers are leveraging these weather trends to target energy systems when they are at their most vulnerable. Through carefully designed modeling, the researchers were able to summarize what would happen if such hackers were successful at committing this kind of timed cyberattack. The study, titled “Operational and economy-wide impacts of compound cyber-attacks and extreme weather events on electric power networks,” concluded that an attack carried out in the wake of a weather event increased the potential impact three times more than a “standalone” cyberattack. On top of that local economies could experience a 37% drop in economic activity if faced with a compound threat.
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