Recent mass power outages in Spain and Portugal raised concerns about how easily a fault can have mass impact – especially considering the interconnectedness of public infrastructure. Power went out over 60% of Portugal and parts of Spain in seconds and took almost 11 hours to fully restore. The exact cause is still being determined, and the incident has raised some important questions:
Was it a coordinated cybersecurity incident? Was it simply faulty grid connections? And how well is public infrastructure managed if it can be affected in such a major way? With the focus is on making systems more efficient, has everything become too complex, leaving loopholes and creating vulnerabilities?
Modern cities are smart and connected
Many global cities manage public infrastructure in the cloud using smart systems. As technology advances, are there gaps in mitigating risk and delivering services more effectively?
Networking and IoT devices have enabled central management of services over much larger geographical areas. Using smart systems to automate traffic lights to ease inner city congestion has become common place.
In some cities AI is being integrated to sync traffic lights and improve traffic flow. A similar approach is being used to optimize power grids where power is sourced from multiple renewable energy projects. Managing inputs and demand is critical to grid stability.
Cloud infrastructure as the backbone
The scalability and flexibility of cloud infrastructure makes it a natural choice to host public infrastructure systems that operate with ongoing variables. But as systems grow more complex, so do the potential for vulnerabilities.
Initial views are the that outage in Span and Portugal were not caused by a direct cyberattack, but the potential exists that it could have been. With so many systems connected together, the possibilities of where the glitch occurred are numerous, and with so much of the grid digitized, there’s always a risk. The Spanish and Portuguese government have announced a full investigation will take place but the outcomes will likely take at least six months to emerge.
Lessons from Europe
Meanwhile, major cities around the globe are reviewing their infrastructure resilience and potential vulnerability. Cloud hosting facilitates easier management and the ability to add new components to a system quickly and easily. It’s viewed as secure, but anyone working in cybersecurity will tell you there are no absolutes.
The risk of exposure of an attack are real for any company and organization. With geo political tensions on the rise, public infrastructure is a real pain point as any disruptions could impact millions of people instantly – exactly as it did in Spain and Portugal. People were stuck on trains and subways, in elevators, in office buildings. Businesses couldn’t operate, and shops had queues round the block.
Cloud infrastructure has many positive attributes, but how would systems handle a major disruption to public infrastructure in a local city? What would the response be, and how quickly and safely could systems be brought back online?
