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Cyber Attacks

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Cyber Attacks

A New Threat to the Energy Industry

IFRI,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

As energy companies become increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks, Europe must improve its cybersecurity.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

On December 23, 2015, some 200,000 people in the Ukraine experienced a power outage which lasted several hours. No storm or faulty equipment caused this electricity cut; it was, in fact, the result of a cyberattack. Gabrielle Desarnaud of the French Institute of International Relations explains the energy sector’s increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks, examines how cyberattacks on energy infrastructure could negatively impact the economy and looks at how Europe is working to overcome obstacles to the creation of “common cybersecurity culture.” getAbstract recommends this report to European Union policy makers and leaders within the European energy sector.

Summary

If nothing else, the December 2015 cyberattack on Ukraine’s electrical grid served as a wake-up call. It laid bare the ways hackers can take control of energy infrastructure. Granted, to execute such an attack successfully takes immense financial resources and insider knowledge. Still, the fact remains that innovations in information and communication technologies, even while they increase the energy sector’s efficiency and revenues, also make infrastructure prime targets for cyberattacks. The ways energy companies organize themselves increase their...

About the Author

Gabrielle Desarnaud is a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations’ Center of Energy.

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