North Carolina attacks highlight the vulnerability of power grids

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/09/ [login to see] /north-carolina-attacks-highlight-the-vulnerability-of-power-grids
When Moore County, N.C., suddenly went dark last Saturday night, Mayor Carol Haney was perplexed. There'd been no storm, no warning, just darkness on what had been a festive holiday season evening. It turned out a shooting attack on two electrical substations knocked tens of thousands of people off the grid for the better part of a week.

"This beautiful part of the world gets sabotaged," said Haney. "So, it could happen to anyone. And that's probably the most frightening for everyone– that this could happen to anyone."

It could. Across the United States some 55,000 electrical substations are humming right now, mostly transforming high voltage from big power lines, into lower voltages for homes and businesses. Many of them are sitting ducks for saboteurs.

"The electric grid is the Achilles heel of the United States," says Mike Mabee, a self-described "grid-security gadfly" who pours over electric company data to highlight vulnerabilities.

Like many he's worried about Russian or Chinese cyberattacks, but Mabee says the easiest way to hurt Americans is something a lot less exotic, shooting up substations with widely available assault rifles.