![]() In 2016, Ukraine’s electrical grid was targeted again by Russian hackers who inserted blackout malware, Industroyer, into Ukrenergo’s power systems. Not only did the attack impact more than 225,000 users in western Ukraine, but it also clogged up local customer service call centers, so that residents could not report outages. Ukraine’s electrical grid was knocked offline by Russian hackers in December 2015-it was the first cyber operation targeting another country’s electrical grid. First, there is renewed speculation that Russian-linked hackers may target Ukraine’s grid for a third time.The Wall Street Journal reports that it could take weeks for ENSTO-E to accommodate Ukrenergo’s connection request.įrom a cyber threat standpoint, this is alarming for two reasons: It also unfortunately means that the Ukrainian power system is vulnerable to outages and blackouts. This means it is not connected to an external grid. Presently, Ukraine’s electrical grid is in a precarious “ isolation mode” state, explains Kadri Simson, the EU energy commissioner. While ENSTO-E has not yet granted Ukraine’s request, on February 28 the organization issued a public statement acknowledging “the exceptional efforts of Ukrenergo to operate and maintain the power system in these difficult times,” and vowed to continue supporting Ukraine. Coincidentally, on February 24, the very same day that Ukrenergo was conducting a practice disconnection test from Russia’s grid, Russia invaded Ukraine.įollowing the invasion, Ukrenergo petitioned ENTSO-E for “ emergency synchronization” with the Continental Europe power system. Since 2017, Ukraine’s national grid operator-Ukrenergo-has sought to sever ties with Russia’s electrical grid and instead synchronize networks with the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E). This quick take is part of our Crisis Crossroads series, which highlights timely analysis by CSIS scholars on the evolving situation in Ukraine and its security, economic, energy, and humanitarian effects.
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