Overnight Giant breakdown Who struck the entire Iberian peninsula on Monday, Spain and Portugal dismissed the track of a cyber attack on Tuesday to explain the origin of the failure. “In view of the analyzes that we have been able to carry out so far, we can rule out a cybersecurity incident in the installations of the electrical network,” said at a press conference Eduardo Prieto, director of operations of the Spanish electricity network manager (REE).
According to this official, Ree has collaborated in recent hours with the National Spanish Intelligence Center (CNI), but also with the National Center for the Protection of Critical Infrastructure (CNPIC) and the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) to examine the causes of the breakdown. “And this morning we were able to conclude that there was indeed no type of intrusion in the control systems of the electricity network which could have caused the incident,” insisted Eduardo Pieto, who called several times since Monday not to “speculate” on the origin of the cut.
“We are still waiting to receive information from certain players in the sector, in particular generation control centers, to have all the information, a complete photo of the data and thus refine the analyzes and draw the appropriate conclusions,” he explained.
For its part, the Portuguese government also dismissed the track of a cyber attack on Tuesday. “In Portugal, we have no information linked to a cyber attack or a hostile assault at this stage. It is the preliminary assessment of the various services, “said the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and Government, Antonio Leitao Amaro, specifying in an interview with the Portugal CNN channel that” it would have been a problem in the transport network “of electrical energy in Spain.
Until 20 hours of cut in places
Electricity was restored in the almost integrality of Spain and Portugal this Tuesday morning, allowing gradual return to normal life in the two countries, affected on Monday by a giant cut which lasted up to 10 or even 20 hours depending on the region.
“After an intense night, we managed to restore electricity to satisfy 99.95 % of the demand,” Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, once again welcoming his fellow citizens on Tuesday for their “responsibility” and their “citizens”.
Portuguese manager Ren has assured Tuesday morning that the country’s electricity network was “perfectly stabilized” and that the 6.4 million Portuguese customers were supplied with electricity.
This giant breakdown occurred around 12:30 p.m. (10:30 am GMT) on Monday and could have had consequences to Greenland, part of which was deprived Monday evening of all its means of communication (telephone, SMS, Internet), partly managed from Spain.
