Ukraine’s national power company Ukrenergo says a blackout in Kiev on December 17 and 18, 2016 was caused by a cyber attack, Reuters reports.
Preliminary findings from an investigation determined that workstations and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems at a 330 kilowatt substation were hit by external attackers.
The company hasn’t said whether it has linked the attack to any specific group or nation state.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
Krotofil said the attackers hid in Ukrenergo’s network undetected for six months before they caused the blackout. “The team involved had quite a few people working in it, with very serious tools and an engineer who understands the power infrastructure,” she said.
A previous cyber attack in December 2015, blamed on Russian hackers, caused blackouts affecting 225,000 people in western Ukraine and damaged power distribution equipment.
We ask this simple question: How vulnerable is Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure to cyber-attack? Is the nation prepared for this type of attack? Or that since we are used to blackout, that it does not really matter.
