Spain Power Outage: Was a Cyberattack Behind Europe’s Blackouts?

Large parts of Spain, France, and Portugal were cut off from electricity on Monday after a massive power outage, causing chaos at airports, disrupting traffic management systems, and bringing railways to a standstill. While power grid operators in Spain and Portugal said they are working to restore power, the officials are investigating the causes behind the outage, and they have not ruled out a cyberattack as a reason for the hours-long shutdown in Europe.

According to Spanish officials, the power grids in Europe, connecting major cities of Spain and Portugal, may have been hit by a cyberattack. However, they do not have evidence to confirm that yet. “At this stage, there’s no evidence yet regarding the cause of the massive blackout,” said the officials, adding that the “cyberattack has not been ruled out and investigations are ongoing.” The officials said a “crisis committee” has been set up to manage the situation in Spain, which is allegedly working with grid owners to fix the drop-off and restore the electricity in crucial areas as priority.

Spain's cyber-security agency, Incibe, said it is investigating the possibility that a cyberattack triggered the outages.

However, cybersecurity expert Lukasz Olejnik believes the outage may not have been caused by a cyberattack. “The reason is not a cyberattack,” he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). While he did not say why he thinks a cyberattack is not behind the outage, power grid failures can be caused by cyberattacks.

According to experts, any power grid connected to the internet is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Hackers can gain access to the framework of the grid and manipulate it to gain unauthorised remote control of the entire electricity supply system. That means they can switch it off to cause city- and even state-wide blackouts.

The power outage suspended services at airports, underground metros, railway stations, roads, shopping complexes, and industries. Reports say mobile networks also stopped working because the power supply to mobile towers was cut off during the outage. The Madrid Open tennis tournament was also cancelled due to the blackout in the Spanish capital.

Read more: Europe’s Dark Day: Power Outage Paralyzes Hospitals, Airports, And Communication