
There is, as yet, no official answer, but theories are beginning to emerge, including the most conspiratorial ones. First of all, it is better to keep calm and think far from the chaos theory. Spain, Portugal and other European countries are without power due to a widespread blackout and the big question arises: in the absence of extreme weather phenomena, what is the possible cause of the blackout?
Juanma Moreno, president of the Junta de Andalucia
The National Cryptologic Centre (CCN), which is part of the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), is investigating whether the blackout suffered throughout the peninsular electricity grid is the result of a cyberattack. It should be noted that Spain has become in recent months one of the countries that receives the most cyberattacks because of its position on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Juan Moreno Bonilla, president of the Junta de Andalucia, commented to the media that despite not having communication with the government or certainties, “only with the data of Andalucia a blackout of this nature can be a cyberattack”.
Cyberattack
In this network, a failure in a substation or high-voltage line can trigger cascading outages affecting several localities or entire neighborhoods. A short circuit, an insulation failure or a simple mechanical failure in a transformer can be enough to cause a blackout without any weather-related causes. At the moment, it is not known if this is the cause. Cyber-attacks: Hacks targeting electrical systems, something that is of great concern to governments and energy companies.
The Spanish government has launched an investigation into the blackouts, using technical teams from several ministries. So far, authorities have not provided any explanation for the incident. The National Institute of Cybersecurity (INCIBE) is also analysing the situation to determine whether it could be a cyberattack, but so far no conclusions have been reached.
Possible causes
There are multiple factors that can cause a power grid failure: overloads, short circuits, substation failures or problems in high-voltage lines. Another reason is related to infrastructure wear and tear: old or poorly maintained equipment can fail unexpectedly, even due to possible human error. Spain has an extensive and complex electricity grid, operated mainly by Red Electrica de España (REE) in transmission and by different companies in distribution (Endesa, Iberdrola, Naturgy, etc.). Extreme weather phenomena: storms, lightning, hurricanes, heat waves or intense cold that damage infrastructure.
This news was originally published on this post .
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