Dive Brief:

• Ukrainian security experts are investigating whether a power outage in Kiev over the weekend was caused by a cyberattack, ComputerWorld reports.
• If confirmed, it would be the second blackout caused by hackers in Ukraine. The previous attack occurred almost exactly one year ago.
• The new incident resulted in a complete power loss for the northern part of Kiev and the surrounding region between Saturday and Sunday. The blackout lasted about an hour and 15 minutes.

Dive Insight:

Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure appear to be on the rise, and are a growing concern for organizations and governments across the globe.

If confirmed, the attack could spark additional concerns about further attacks on energy and financial infrastructure. Experts have long said critical infrastructure is vulnerable to cyberattacks. Some are concerned that the successful attack could prompt other countries to use similar tactics.

Last year’s outage, reported on December 23, 2015, left about half of the homes in the Ivano-Frankivsk region without electricity. Experts widely described that incident as the first known power outage caused by a cyberattack.