A cybersecurity consultant has explained how easy it has been to access the solar panel system, according to Bloomberg.
In short. Vangelis Stykas, a white-hat hacker, has detailed how he discovered the vulnerabilities of solar panels and the electrical grid connected to them. From the comfort of his home in Greece, he only needed a laptop and a cell phone to bypass panel firewalls around the world. In this way, it has gained access to large amounts of energy, enough to significantly alter the balance of the electrical grid.
In depth. The growth of solar energy means more connecting additional points to the grid, creating a massive vulnerability that hackers could exploit. In fact, in data from the International Energy Agencythe number of weekly cyberattacks on utility companies doubled in two years. Along the same lines, the European Union has suffered more than 200 cyber attacks on energy infrastructures.
Because? The reasons can be very diverse, from paying ransoms to leaving countries completely in the dark, or even with warlike motivations, as is the case of cyber attacks due to the war in Ukraine. In the specific case of renewables, in Japan, some hackers bank details were stolen of a solar company raiding 800 remote monitoring devices for solar panel installations.
What measures are they taking? The demand for solar panels is increasing and a study has developed the theory of the learning effect, that is, the panels will become increasingly cheaper due to their installation and use. From the IEA have predicted that more than 100 million homes around the world will depend on photovoltaic systems.
Faced with this situation that will increase, NATO and the European Union have carried out different drills to analyze and repair vulnerabilities in renewable infrastructures, such as Locked Shield and Cyber Europe. For its part, the European Commission has established regulations so that companies strengthen your systems within a period of 18 months. Additionally, some public and private companies have begun to respond to vulnerability reports by implementing software fixes to their connected devices.
It all starts from the manufacturer. The impact is not only from the solar panel you have on your roof, but the geopolitical dimension is much broader. Currently, we are in a political-social context where cyberattacks are the order of the daywars start through electronic devices. For this reason, the attack directed at energy infrastructure is a very strategic weapon of war. Russia and China They have a documented history of cyber attacks, so NATO takes into account the fact that depend solely on a single country to provide itself with certain renewable materials, as is the case in China with solar panels.
The dilemma. However, the exponential growth of clean energy in recent years raises serious doubts about guaranteeing the security of energy infrastructure without slowing down the transition. The experts have warned that speed can overshadow one of the most important premises of cybersecurity. It remains pending how this crucial dilemma will be resolved for the world we already live in.
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