Spain says no cyberattack on grid operator during blackout
MADRID: Spain's government on Wednesday ruled out a cyberattack on the national grid operator as the cause of the huge blackout of unknown origin that crippled the Iberian Peninsula last month.
Authorities have been scrambling to find answers more than two weeks after the April 28 outage cut telecommunications, halted transport and plunged cities into darkness across Spain and Portugal.
Spanish grid operator Red Electrica said it had detected no 'cybersecurity incident' during the crisis, after the government had refused to rule out any potential explanation.
'After analysing all the relevant data, we have not found indications that the system operator was targeted by a cyberattack,' Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen told parliament.
Aagesen provided a detailed chronology of events, saying two major power fluctuations were recorded in the half-hour before the grid collapse at 12:33 pm (1033 GMT).
She also revealed the precise location of three incidents that triggered the outage, substations in the southern provinces of Granada, Badajoz and Seville.
Authorities are analysing a possible link between the fluctuations and the blackout alongside hundreds of millions of pieces of data by electricity companies and Red Electrica, Aagesen said.
She also hit out at criticism from the right-wing opposition, which has questioned the Socialist-led government's increasing reliance on renewable energy and a planned phase-out of nuclear power.
The investigation into the outage 'will last as long as necessary' and 'we will not allow hastiness to take us away from the truth', Aagesen said.
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The Sun
41 minutes ago
- The Sun
Gaza rescuers say Israel fire kills 36, six of them near aid centre
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The Sun
42 minutes ago
- The Sun
36 Killed in Gaza as Aid Crisis Deepens, Boat Nears Blockade
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The Star
10 hours ago
- The Star
Still starving in Gaza
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But behind closed doors, some military officials privately concluded that Palesti-nians there could face starvation within weeks. Even the United States – one of Israel's most stalwart supporters throughout the conflict – began suggesting that the humanitarian crisis was spiralling out of control. Even US President Donald Trump said that 'a lot of people are starving' in the Gaza Strip and that the United States was working to alleviate the situation. After those comments by Trump, Israeli authorities relented, announcing that they would begin allowing in small amounts of food. On June 4, however, US vetoed a United Nations security council resolution calling for an 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire' in Gaza while the 14 remaining countries on the council voted in favour. Meanwhile, the US backed Israeli Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has paused food distribution after soldiers opened fire on Palestinians trying to get some of the aid. With new aid slow to arrive, many in Gaza are trying to make whatever provisions they have last as long as possible. 'We don't plan meals anymore,' said Sabah Abu al-Roos, 63, in the central city of Deir al-Balah. 'We just work with whatever we can find.' Produce like eggplants and tomatoes is often hawked at eye-watering prices, according to several Palestinians. Iman Jundiyeh, a mother of four in Gaza City, said she could only dream of the regular meals she used to enjoy before the war: fragrant sliced lamb; chicken, potatoes and rice; and maftoul, a kind of Palestinian couscous. She now relies almost exclusively on soup kitchens run by charities that still manage to stew pots of lentils and other staples for crowds of displaced Palestinians. Everything else is either unavailable or too expensive, she said. 'Just yesterday, my son begged me for watermelon,' Jundiyeh said. 'I started to cry with him.' – 2025 The New York Times Company This article was first published on The New York Times.
