The National Cyber Defense Center, working for the German government, has prepared a confidential report suggesting that several cyber attacks against German energy suppliers could cause a complete blackout throughout the European interconnected power grid, Spiegel reported. The paper reportedly posits that the country's critical infrastructure, specifically energy supply companies, is being probed by unnamed hackers, who may be preparing an attack.
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The cybersecurity experts also note that several cyber attacks against power providers could create a "domino effect," which could knock out the EU's entire power grid, which would lead to dramatic consequences. Still the paper's authors add that so far it is unclear what the intentions are of those scanning German companies' networks, as it may not necessarily signalize the imminent attack.
The German government has not confirmed the authenticity of the report and hasn't commented on it.
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The report comes less than a month after The New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources within US intelligence, that hackers were allegedly performing recon on networks of power supply companies with unknown intentions.