The National Court investigates whether the great blackout was due to a « cyber -terrorist » | Spain
The National Court has opened its own investigations on the massive electric blackout suffered by the Iberian Peninsula this Monday. Through a resolution signed on Tuesday, the magistrate instructor of Guard, José Luis Calama, has given a green light to a cause to investigate whether the huge energy crisis « could be an act of computer sabotage in Spanish critical infrastructures, » the court reported. In his opinion, the judge admits that the cause of the system’s ruling « is unknown » in the « current moment », but considers « necessary » to initiate his own inquiries to the possibility that it may be a « cyber -cyberterrorist » attack.
Before knowing the audience’s decision, Red Electrica has ruled out that the blackout was motivated by a cyber attack, a human error or by some strange weather or atmospheric phenomenon. For its part, during a subsequent public appearance, President Pedro Sánchez added that the Government does not have « conclusive information that has been a terrorist attack. » Moreover, although he did not want to rule out any hypothesis about the origin of the ruling, the chief of the Executive has called for « tranquility » and prudence until the matter is thoroughly studied.
“It is needed Time to have an accurate analysis And in order not to suffer these vulnerabilities again, ”said Sánchez, who has continued in this line:“ The reforms will be made so that this does not happen again. We will demand all responsibilities to private operators. ”The President has promised transparency and that will make public the results of his investigation.
On the other hand, by justifying the opening of his own investigations, Judge Calama explains that, « about 12.30 pm » on Monday, « the entire peninsular territory suffered an electric blackout »: « As reported by the government, » have been lost ‘suddenly, for five seconds, 15 GW of the energy that was taking place at that time, which is equivalent to 60% of the light that was being consumed. never ». These facts « have meant a Critical situation for welfare and feeling of security of all citizens « , by » having affected computer systems that support infrastructure that provide essential services to society, such as health, energy, industry, transport, etc. « .
Report claim
The instructor magistrate continues as follows: « While at the present time the cause of the aforementioned facts is unknown, cyber -terrorism is among one of the possible. Therefore, it is necessary to open a judicial investigation in case such facts could be constitutive of a crime of terrorism. » Therefore, Calama has ordered Red Eléctrica and the National Cryptological Center, dependent on the CNI, to send him two reports on the « causes » that motivated the blackout, for which he gives them a « non -extendable » period of ten days. The judge has also claimed another analysis from the Head of Information of the National Police.
« Our society is increasingly based on a complex infrastructure system on which the productive sectors, service management, financial system and development of citizen life in general are supported, » recalls the magistrate. « Are infrastructure are interdependent Among itself, what can trigger waterfall security problems through the system itself, with the possibility of causing unexpected and serious failures in basic services for the population, as happened (this Monday). This type of infrastructure is especially attractive to terrorism, due to serious damage that can be caused for the population, ”says the judge.
Along these lines, the Calamana instructor affects that the 2017 cyber -cyber threat report of the National Cryptological Center affirmed that “the greatest danger is the attack with origin in foreign states”: “This happened in the case of the cyber attacks to Ukrainian electricity companies That in 2016 they caused a blackout, causing millions of people to run out of electricity. ”
