Falha maciça na rede elétrica europeia exige segurança cibernética de infraestrutura crítica

On April 28, 2025, a massive power outage struck Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, disrupting life across the Iberian Peninsula. The blackout began at 12:33 CEST and led to the sudden loss of 15 gigawatts of electricity, causing cascading failures across interconnected grids. While power was restored to most areas within 10 hours, some regions remained down for nearly 22 hours, with full recovery in Spain by 11:00 CEST on April 29. Portugal’s grid was also stabilized by early the next day using hydropower, gas turbines, and emergency imports from Morocco and France.

Even though initial logs led Red Eléctrica and REN to dismiss the likelihood of a power grid cyberattack, one must question how conclusive such findings truly are. Digital manipulation knows few limits, and skepticism remains warranted. Cybersecurity for power grids has never been more crucial.

Os especialistas acreditam que, mesmo que esse incidente não tenha sido um ataque, ele fala muito sobre as crescentes ameaças cibernéticas à infraestrutura. As redes modernas dependem fortemente de sistemas digitalizados, tornando-as mais vulneráveis a hackers. Um único ponto de falha; seja de malware ou dados manipulados, pode desencadear interrupções em todo o país.

And it’s not just critical infrastructure at risk. In May 2025, Coinbase Global, the leading American cryptocurrency exchange, experienced a massive insider-assisted data breach involving over 69,000 customers. A few overseas support agents were bribed to share sensitive internal data, which included personal identifiers, ID images, and account balances. While passwords and private keys remained safe, the leaked data exposed users to serious phishing threats, impersonation scams, and even potential physical safety risks. The hackers even demanded a $20 million ransom.

Essa violação não foi causada por malware, mas por insiders. Significa como o acesso confiável pode ser explorado com efeitos devastadores. Se isso pode acontecer em um ambiente altamente regulamentado e consciente da segurança, como uma exchange de criptomoedas, o setor de energia deve perguntar: estamos realmente preparados para uma violação semelhante?

This isn't a distant fear. In Ukraine, on December 23, 2015, hackers used malware known as BlackEnergy 3 to take control of SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems, cutting power to over 230,000 people. That attack, attributed to the Russian group “Sandworm”, was the first confirmed cyberattack on a power grid, and it changed how the world views SCADA system security and preventing cyberattacks on national infrastructure.

Esses ataques geralmente começam com phishing ou arquivos infectados, dando aos invasores acesso a redes corporativas. A partir daí, eles passam para sistemas de tecnologia operacional, onde podem desativar subestações, interromper as comunicações e destruir ferramentas de recuperação.

Cyberattacks don’t always begin with external breaches. The Coinbase data breach is a perfect case study . The attackers didn’t need malware or network infiltration. Instead, they bribed support staff who had legitimate access to internal systems. Over months, they quietly siphoned off sensitive information that could fuel identity theft, scams, and extortion.

Esse mesmo cenário, aplicado à infraestrutura crítica, pode resultar em sistemas de controle manipulados, detecção atrasada de incidentes ou até mesmo negação de recuperação. É um lembrete preocupante de que proteger a infraestrutura crítica não se trata apenas de firewalls e detecção de malware, mas de controlar o acesso, criptografar dados e monitorar o comportamento humano.

To combat such threats, encryption for businesses is crucial. It ensures that sensitive data and system commands remain secure, even if networks are compromised. Encryption blocks unauthorized access and tampering, forming a critical layer of defense. It also verifies the authenticity of control messages, preventing hackers from injecting malicious commands. Additionally, encrypted file security, logs, and backups help ensure systems can be safely restored without further compromise.

For organizations in the energy sector, investing in cybersecurity solutions for the energy sector and strong business data protection measures is no longer optional—it’s essential.