A new analysis by Politico finds that there were 185 incidents of physical attacks against American electrical infrastructure reported in 2023, twice the number in 2021. That information on what are the most vulnerable parts of substations and transformers and what not are often available on extremist forums these days is almost certainly a factor in the increase. “We know activists continue to use this as a vehicle to get their ideology and other political thoughts across,” said North American Electric Reliability Corp senior vice president Manny Cancel in a recent presentation.
What keeps experts like Cancel awake at night more often though is foreign cyber threats to energy infrastructure. “The current geopolitical situation has significant ramifications for the North American grid. The major nation-state actors – China, North Korea, Iran and Russia – absolutely possess the capability to disrupt critical infrastructure here in North America,” Cancel said last week.