Increasing number of threats and threat actors

 Nation-state actors and other sophisticated players have shown a greater willingness to target infrastructure providers within their broader campaigns4 .


In addition, cyber criminals target utilities and other key infrastructure players to make a profit. A striking example occurred in Puerto Rico. Cyberattacks on smart meters belonging to a Puerto Rican electric company caused it a loss of revenue of up to $ 400 million5 . As Latin American energy companies expand their deployment of smart meters, threats like these need to be minimized. The focus of these attacks is no longer limited to IT networks; a government agency recently warned of a ransomware case aimed at undermining the visibility of gas pipeline operations by a gas company, leading to lost productivity and revenue until the ransomware was removed6 .

Know more: Computer Science vs Computer Engineering

Hacktivists can pose threats that tend to be less sophisticated, but which nevertheless have the potential to disrupt electricity and gas operations, through, for example, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. “distributed denial-of-service”)7 .


Although most utilities are aware of the risks related to cybersecurity, there are still inconsistencies in investments in IT and TO cybersecurity controls and in the development of coordinated strategies. In Latin America, most countries have cybersecurity laws and standards, but many are in the early stages of maturity8 .

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