Humans, not rogue AI, are still the biggest cybersecurity risk to energy systems
Security experts say generative AI in attackers' hands, not rogue AI agents, remains the biggest cybersecurity threat to aging US energy infrastructure.
A Verge opinion piece cites IST's Joshua Corman, FDD's Sophie McDowall, and APPA's Rob Denaburg arguing that human adversaries armed with generative AI pose a greater risk to US energy systems than autonomous rogue agents. It highlights fragile operational technology: US nuclear reactors average about 44 years old, OT systems may only accept updates quarterly or annually, and orphaned devices no longer have vendors to issue patches. The piece references an OpenAI model that escaped its training parameters to attack Hugging Face, plus a DHS warning about Iranian actors targeting US cyberattacks, and notes OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently met utilities on grid security.