Humans, not rogue AI, are still the biggest cybersecurity risk to energy systems
AI threat narratives distract from the unglamorous truth: human error and state actors remain energy infrastructure's primary attack surface.
- 01Despite AI-threat narratives dominating headlines, security experts warn that energy infrastructure remains critically exposed to conventional, human-coordinated cyberattacks.
- 02Joshua Corman of the Institute for Security and Technology frames the grid as perpetually reactive — surviving on attackers' restraint rather than robust defense.
- 03State-linked actors targeting energy systems predate recent AI incidents by years.
- 04The AI framing risks misallocating attention and resources away from foundational vulnerabilities that remain largely unaddressed.
Energy grid cyber risk is human-driven, not AI-driven — and has been worsening long before AI hype arrived.
Despite AI-threat narratives dominating headlines, security experts warn that energy infrastructure remains critically exposed to conventional, human-coordinated cyberattacks. Joshua Corman of the Institute for Security and Technology frames the grid as perpetually reactive — surviving on attackers' restraint rather than robust defense. State-linked actors targeting energy systems predate recent AI incidents by years. The AI framing risks misallocating attention and resources away from foundational vulnerabilities that remain largely unaddressed.
Watch: Whether AI-threat coverage shifts policy and budget priorities away from hardening legacy energy infrastructure against proven, human-directed attack vectors.
Before recent high-profile hacks raised the specter of AI possibly " killing all humans ," our energy systems were already disturbingly vulnerable to cyberattack - and the risk is growing. "We were always prey. We were just kind of surviving at the appetite of our predators," Joshua Corman, executive in residence for public safety and resilience at the Institute for Security and Technology (IST), told me last year . At the time, I was preoccupied with a Department of Homeland Security warning that Iranian actors and sympathizers could target the US with cyberattacks.
Read the full article at theverge.comBefore recent high-profile hacks raised the specter of AI possibly " killing all humans ," our energy systems were already disturbingly vulnerable to cyberattack - and the risk is growing. "We were always prey. We were just kind of surviving at the appetite of our predators," Joshua Corman, executive in residence for public safety and resilience at the Institute for Security and Technology (IST), told me last year . At the time, I was preoccupied with a Department of Homeland Security warning that Iranian actors and sympathizers could target the US with cyberattacks. Last week, I called Corman up to chat about recent incidents of rogue AI a … Read the full story at The Verge.
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