Trump Order Bans Foreign-Made Power System Equipment Over Cyber Risks
Summary
The Trump administration ordered a ban on acquiring or installing foreign-made bulk-power system equipment, citing backdoor, remote-access and supply-chain risks. Agencies must assess existing equipment and develop rules.
Key points
- An executive order bans the acquisition or installation of foreign-made equipment used in U.S. bulk-power systems.
- The order covers power transmission lines rated at 69,000 volts or higher, substations, control rooms, power plants, reactors, and associated software and firmware.
- Defense, Commerce and Energy departments will review transactions; agencies may impose conditions on previously purchased equipment and must assess replacement options.
- Officials have 120 days to develop rules, identify equipment considered at risk, and plan how to inventory, isolate, monitor or replace it.
- The article cites recent malicious activity targeting more than 100 internet-exposed systems in the water and wastewater sector, as reported by a federal cyber defense agency.
- OpenAI, Google and other companies warned that AI-enabled cyberattacks could become more widespread and sophisticated, and called for coordinated defense and threat-intelligence sharing.
Article Details
- Event Type
- U.S. executive order restricting acquisition and installation of foreign-made bulk-power system technology over cybersecurity and supply-chain risks.
- Impact
- The order covers power-generation and transmission equipment, substations, control rooms, and associated software and firmware, and directs agencies to assess at-risk equipment and develop plans to identify, isolate, monitor, or replace it. The article also reports cyberattacks affecting water utilities and a British power plant, and malicious activity targeting more than 100 internet-exposed water and wastewater systems. No countries were officially blamed for those incidents; experts pointed to Iranian hackers, while U.S. officials have previously attributed other critical-infrastructure attacks to Russian and Chinese hackers.
People
Countries
China#TrumpIran#TrumpRussia#TrumpUnited KingdomIn the United Kingdom, hackers reportedly shut down a small British power plant for four days.United Statesthat the bulk-power system could be a target of those seeking to commit malicious acts against the United States, including malicious cyber activities, because of the significant risks that a successful attack would