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US President Donald Trump has potentially suggested that the government’s cyber wing of the military used cyber attacks to disable lights and cut power in the Venezuelan capital during its strikes on the nation.
On 3 January, the US launched strikes on the Venezuelan capital Caracas, before capturing the nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump alluded to the concept that the US used cyber warfare as part of the strikes to disable power in Caracas.
“It was dark, the lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have, it was dark, and it was deadly,” he said.
Similarly, during the same press conference, General Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that US Cyber Command, US Space Command and combatant commands “began layering different effects” to “create a pathway” for US forces flying into the country. The effects were not disclosed.
Additionally, requests for comment by Politico to the White House, US Cyber Command and Space Command were not responded to.
At this stage, it is unclear whether or not the US Cyber Command was involved or if cyber attacks were responsible for the blackout.
According to Jacquelyn Schneider, cyber conflict researcher at Stanford University and director of the Hoover Wargaming and Crisis Simulation Initiative, cyber warfare is not ideal for causing a power outage, particularly in a case where a violent attack will also occur.
“If you need to create a power outage and you are already willing to launch a violent attack, then cyber operations aren’t the best means for the target,” she said.
However, Schneider said this doesn’t mean the government did not utilise cyber warfare for the outage.
“Just because it’s easier to take power out with a bomb doesn’t mean a state wouldn’t still opt for a cyber attack,” she said, using Russia’s war in Ukraine as an example.
According to internet tracking group NetBlocks, there was a loss of internet connectivity in Caracas during the power outage on Saturday, with NetBlocks founder Alp Toker saying that if a cyber attack was the cause, “it will have been targeted, not impacting the broader network space”.
If proven, this would mark a major public use case of US cyber capabilities against another country; due to the usual confidentiality of cyber warfare, this is not necessarily the first time the US has used cyber capabilities against Venezuela in recent months.
In December, Venezuelan national oil and gas company Petróleos de Venezuela accused the US of launching a cyber attack that impacted operations across the country. The US has not commented on these accusations.
