Pipeline hack 'a warning shot' for electrical grid, other infrastructure

"It should serve as a warning shot for all the vital infrastructure," said Stephen Arbogast, a longtime executive at Exxon who now is a professor at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Arbogast said he’s not surprised the pipeline was targeted.

"This thing has been coming," he said. "Hackers have been honing their techniques for quite some time now."

While Arbogast calls this week's gas crunch an inconvenience, a similar attack that knocks out the power grid for days or weeks could create a crisis similar to what Texas experienced in February.

Duke Energy is aware of the potential threat and is taking steps to minimize it, spokesman Jeff Brooks said.

"As a critical infrastructure provider, we are a target, and it is something we deal with on a regular basis," Brooks said.

The Charlotte-based utility constantly works to build physical and technological layers, from a diverse fuel supply to systems that can isolate outage areas and reroute power, he said, noting that the strategy also helps with cybersecurity.

"It's a constant battle," Brooks said. "It's a constant attempt to stay ahead of those challenges, that we're putting in protections every time that attack gets more sophisticated."

In the past, many large companies fended off hackers looking for trade secrets, but Arbogast called ransomware "a new form of threat."

Other infrastructure also is at risk. Cyberattacks targeted a water treatment plant near Tampa, Fla., this year and the Onslow Water and Sewer Authority in North Carolina in 2018.