Energy transition drives growing cyber threats

Cyber threat actors are increasingly targeting renewable energy providers and other CNI installations to gain strategic advantage or financial gain, as an attack on a US water treatment plant has brought starkly into focus

A cyberattack on a water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Florida, in early February was just the latest example of the increasing cybersecurity challenges faced by utilities and critical national infrastructure (CNI). While high-risk sites, such as oil rigs or nuclear facilities, should be well aware of cyber threats, the energy transition is bringing the issue to a far wider range of less prepared installations. In the Oldsmar attack, the threat actor likely leveraged an outdated operating system and poor password security to gain access to the supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) system, before attempting to increase the concentration of sodium hydroxide to dangerous levels. Person