In 2017, energy providers and power plants in the Ukraine were attacked with malware “Industroyer” and “Blackenergy”. In parts of the country the power supply was interrupted for several hours. According to Eset , a security software company headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia, the cybercrime group responsible for the attack is now working with the online criminals behind the “Wannacry” and “NotPetya” ransomware. Analyzing “NotPetya,” security experts discovered an improved variant of the backdoor that was used in “Industroyer” – and it stands to reason that the code comes from the same source.

A report on the status of IT security issued by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) also expects an increased risk for energy providers and other operators of critical infrastructures. According to the report, the digitalization and networking of everyday objects and industrial systems both increase the possibility of an attack and heighten the dependency of the state, economy and society on functioning IT systems.