Thousands of European wind and solar control systems found openly accessible online
Researchers discovered that thousands of administrative interfaces for wind and solar farms across Europe are reachable via the internet, creating a risk of sabotage.
Dutch experts using machine-learning techniques mapped over 8,500 online interfaces belonging to wind and solar installations across Europe, covering 7,942 solar sites and 605 wind farms in 35 nations. The exposed points included admin login screens and live-data pages that sometimes offered start, stop and reset functions for turbines. The team believes that full remote control might be feasible for roughly 181 of the identified locations.
Highlighting the danger to critical services, they noted that compromising a single turbine could affect nearby city or airport power supplies. The findings were shared at the ONE Conference in The Hague, and the researchers called on operators to take these interfaces offline without delay. Authorities in several affected countries have not yet responded to inquiries.
Why it matters
Open access to renewable-energy controls could let attackers disrupt power supplies across Europe.
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