Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned that United States’s adversaries have the potential to tamper with the country’s power grid.
Granholm confirmed the threat after being asked if adversaries have the capabilities to shut down the power grid, during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.
“Yeah, they do. I think that there are very malign actors who are trying. Even as we speak, there are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally,” the secretary said.
UPTICK IN RANSOMWARE ATTACKS SHARES ‘A LOT OF PARALLELS’ WITH 9/11: WRAY
Granholm’s comments follow two major cyberattacks, including the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. oil pipeline, which went dark for six days in May after suffering a ransomware attack. Earlier this month, JBS USA, the world’s largest meat supplier, also shut down all of its U.S. beef plants after being hit with a cyberattack.
The Biden administration has been working toward solutions as to how to shore up vulnerabilities in cyberware, following a rise in such attacks, many of which have been traced back to Russia.
Last week, the White House stressed that the administration and federal government are “working with like-minded partners around the world to disrupt and deter ransomware actors” and pointed out the responsibility the private sector had in fighting cyberattacks.
On Friday, FBI Director Christopher Wray compared the uptick in ransomware attacks to the threats prompted by the 9/11 terror attacks.
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Wray, whose agency is investigating 100 different types of ransomware, told the Wall Street Journal there were “a lot of parallels” between the two. The director called for a “shared responsibility” in combating the issue, encouraging collaboration between the public and private sectors.
