Review of energy grid cybersecurity protocols sought in wake of European blackout

“It is imperative that our electricity grid has the most sophisticated digital mechanisms to avoid the effects of a cyberattack,” Rep. Víctor Parés Otero said Monday following reports of a widespread blackout in Spain, Portugal and parts France. As of press time, officials had not said what caused the outage, which affected tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula.

By The Star Staff

In view of the events in Europe, where much of Spain as well as parts of Portugal and France were experiencing an energy blackout on Monday, House Government Committee Chairman Víctor Parés Otero summoned Office of Innovation and Technology Services (PRITS) Executive Director Antonio Ramos to an urgent meeting to discuss the cybersecurity protocols associated with Puerto Rico’s power grid.

“Today Spain, Portugal and large parts of France are experiencing a total blackout. Although the causes of it have not yet been revealed, we cannot rule out a cyberattack,” Parés said. “The European electricity grid is digitalized, complex and interconnected with various countries. Cyberattacks on Europe’s critical infrastructure, such as the electricity system, happen very frequently, but firewalls and other backup platforms prevent them from being successful. However, there have been penetrations that have caused disruptions in Germany, Latvia, Hungary and Austria. That is why it is imperative to know the status of digital defenses in our electrical system.”

On Monday, residents of Spain, Portugal and parts of France reported a total interruption of electrical service. The Spanish national power company Red Eléctrica announced that the protocols had been activated to start uploading the system and that they were in collaboration with other companies to do the same in all the affected regions in the Iberian Peninsula. Law enforcement authorities in the three countries did not rule out a cyberattack as the main cause of the blackout.

Several European media outlets indicated the real possibility of a cyberattack focused on causing a voltage imbalance in the electricity supply to Spain.

“It is imperative that our electricity grid has the most sophisticated digital mechanisms to avoid the effects of a cyberattack, which is why we are scheduling the meeting with PRITS for this week,” Parés said. “Likewise, I am going to discuss the matter with the government’s Energy Czar, my friend Josué Colón, who supervises the private operators LUMA Energy (transmission and distribution) and Genera Puerto Rico (generation), as well as [energy suppliers] AES, Ecoeléctrica, and others. This is an issue that we have discussed previously and it regains importance with what happened in Europe.”