A massive blackout left millions of people without power in some South American countries, such as Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, over the last weekend. Although the exact causes of the incident are not yet known, network security experts and authorities consider it likely to be a cyberattack; “there is still nothing confirmed, but we must not rule out any possibility”, Argentine government officials said.
The service was reestablished in the Argentine
capital on Sunday night, according to officials from Edenor and Edesur, the
companies in charge of electricity distribution in Argentina; service is
expected to be fully restored in all affected territories over the next few
hours.
The two companies mentioned that an
“external incident” caused the blackout. Argentina’s electricity grid
is connected to Paraguay and Uruguay, so these countries were also affected, as
well as some areas in Chile and Brazil. The incident occurred in the
interconnection system in Argentina, which is responsible for the distribution
of most of the electricity in the country, mentioned the network security
experts.
On Sunday afternoon the energy had been
completely restored in Chile and Brazil. On the other hand, Uruguay and
Paraguay are close to 100% electricity coverage, although the extent of this
incident in these two countries is still unknown. However, contrary to the
Argentine companies’ version, the Uruguayan authorities mentioned that the
service was still interrupted last night.
Concerns have recently increased about the
ability of some governments to deploy cyberattacks capable of disrupting other
countries’ energy infrastructure; Various media outlets reported a couple of
days ago a suspected U.S. government’s cyberattacks campaign against Russia’s
power grids with the intention of injecting malware capable of causing severe
power outages.
In addition, according to network security
specialists of the International Cyber Security Institute (IICS), Russia
has also deployed such attacks in the past; the most recent example is the
interruption in Ukraine’s electricity service, allegedly caused from Russia.
