FBI Warns of Rising Cyber Threat in Renewable Energy Sector

The FBI is warning that America’s expansion of renewable energy infrastructure increases the risks of cyber attacks within the power industry. In a private industry notification released on July 1, the FBI outlined that these attacks may include hackers seeking to steal intellectual property, disrupt power generation, or ransom vital information for geopolitical motives or financial gain. “With federal and local legislature advocating for renewable energies, the industry will expand to keep pace, providing more opportunities and targets for malicious cyber actors,” the FBI said in the notification. The document highlighted a 2019 incident involving a private company operating solar assets that lost the ability to monitor approximately 500 megawatts of its wind and photovoltaic sites across California, Utah, and Wyoming due to a denial-of-service attack exploiting an unpatched firewall....