{"id":653847,"date":"2026-06-12T15:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=653847"},"modified":"2026-06-12T15:40:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T13:40:26","slug":"south-africas-lights-could-be-switched-off-from-anywhere-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/653847-south-africas-lights-could-be-switched-off-from-anywhere-in-the-world.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s lights could be switched off from anywhere in the world \u2014 Cybersecurity company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cybersecurity firm Fortinet has raised the alarm over mounting cyber threats to South Africa’s physical infrastructure, particularly electrical infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortinet business development manager for Africa, Martin Fernandes, said the national grid had reached a level of stability that was worthy of praise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he explained that the new, more complex electricity ecosystem could be exposed to mounting cybersecurity threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The new rapidly expanding, complex mesh of state utilities, IPPs, municipal microgrids, and industrial self-generation projects is reshaping the foundation of the economy,” Fernandes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If these assets are not legally and digitally protected as sovereign infrastructure, the systems controlling our lights can be switched off from anywhere in the world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortinet described the scenario as being one where physical infrastructure stands with one foot in cyberspace and the other in the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition to a decentralised grid merged Eskom’s once-isolated infrastructure with connected digital systems, expanding South Africa’s cyberattack surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We now have a duty to continue our work on a unified security blueprint, or else we risk trading the newly waning physical energy crisis for a systemic digital one,” Fortinet said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This convergence is occurring at a time when South Africa has become a primary target for global cybercrime. The danger lies in the integration,” Fortinet said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To manage the intermittent nature of renewables and the bidirectional flow of electricity, the grid relies on a sophisticated layer of information technology and operational technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If cybersecurity controls across these points are fragmented or inconsistent, a breach within a third-party private provider’s network could move laterally into national critical infrastructure,” Fortinet said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one example in late 2025, malicious actors gained access to Poland’s energy systems and deployed destructive tools that crippled remote terminals and wiped data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While power production continued, the attack effectively blinded the operators, stripping away their ability to monitor or control generation sites remotely,” Fortinet said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This incident serves as a global case study in the vulnerability of distributed energy resources, proving that in a modern grid, a breach at the edge can quickly lead to a total loss of operational visibility.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warning about Eskom’s smart meter rollout<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fortinet highlighted Eskom’s smart meter rollout project as a potential new risk. As part of its plan to eliminate load reduction, the utility plans to roll out six million of these meters in the next three years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart meters can be helpful in preventing electricity theft and the use of illegal tokens, managing electricity demand, and avoiding blackouts, but they could also be new gateways into grids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Authorities have been working around the clock to ensure the world-class upgrades are also protected by world-class cybersecurity measures,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The threats highlight why the implementation of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, which is now fully active, has become more vital than ever.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortinet said the act provided the legal framework to ensure that every asset, from residential smart meters to large-scale wind farms, would be treated as a protected sovereign asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the cybersecurity firm, true operational resilience will require an integrated platform approach driven by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Secure networking <\/strong>\u2014 Connecting distributed infrastructure reliably.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sovereign Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)<\/strong> \u2014 Ensuring local data governance and cloud access.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • SecOps with OT context<\/strong> \u2014 Using native AI to drastically reduce threat response windows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Fortinet said this combination would enable a Zero Trust Network Access model that would enforce continuous identity verification from residential smart meters to remote wind turbines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A prominent cybersecurity firm has warned that South Africa’s national grid faces an increased risk of cyberattacks due to more private sector participation and smart meter rollouts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":653864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27995,27],"tags":[72252,15227,181,22073,105881,95563],"class_list":["post-653847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","category-security","tag-cyberattacks","tag-cybersecurity","tag-eskom","tag-fortinet","tag-martin-hernandes","tag-smart-meters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653847"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653891,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653847\/revisions\/653891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}