Rob Waugh
Russian cyber attackers could target the UK's power grids and ‘leave millions without power’, a senior minister has warned.
Speaking at a Nato conference on Monday, Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden warned that Russia had “stepped up” its cyber attacks against Ukraine and its allies over the past year.
McFadden, whose brief as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster includes national security, went on to say Russian cyber attacks could “turn off the lights for millions of people” and accused Moscow of targeting British media, telecoms and energy infrastructure.
He added that Russian state-aligned groups have taken responsibility for at least nine separate cyberattacks of varying severity against NATO states, including unprovoked attacks against its critical national infrastructure.
But could such an attack really work? And how would it happen? Yahoo spoke to cybersecurity experts about the threat of attacks on Britain’s power.
How realistic is an attack on our power grid?
At a global level, cyber attacks are not only realistic, they are happening already. The International Energy Agency has estimated that attacks on energy infrastructure doubled between 2020 and 2022, up to 1,101 weekly attacks worldwide.
In 2023, those attacks doubled again. Leonhard Birnbaum, CEO of utility E.ON warned last year that Europe’s power grid was under a ‘cyberattack deluge’ since the invasion of Ukraine: “I am worried now and I will be even more worried in the future.”
The UK's electricity system - sometimes referred to as the national grid - is a series of networks spread across the country and operated by different companies. The 'grid' consists of wires and cables to take electricity from where it's produced to the homes and businesses that use it 24/7.
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