U.S. Cyberattack Reportedly Triggered a Blackout in Venezuela

Recent reporting in WIRED and corroborated by other outlets reveals that hackers operating on behalf of the United States government are believed to have carried out a cyber operation that caused a widespread blackout in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. This action reportedly took place just prior to a U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. It marks the first publicly reported instance in which the U.S. government is said to have deliberately used offensive cyber capabilities to disrupt another nation’s critical infrastructure.

According to unnamed U.S. officials cited by The New York Times, the blackout was caused by a targeted cyberattack on Venezuela’s electrical grid and possibly other infrastructure systems. The operation was part of a broader mission dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve, which also included hacking Venezuelan air defense radar systems to degrade military response capabilities ahead of the ground assault. U.S. Cyber Command issued a cautious statement saying it supported the operation but did not detail specific capabilities used.

Details of the blackout’s duration and impact vary by account. Some reports indicate the power was restored within minutes in many parts of the city, potentially by the same cyber operators who initiated the disruption. In areas closer to military installations involved in Maduro’s capture, outages may have lasted significantly longer. Officials have emphasized that hospitals and other critical services were protected by backup generators, and there were no known immediate fatalities linked directly to the blackout.

Cybersecurity analysts note that disabling an electrical grid through hacking requires access to industrial control systems or operational technology, and that only state-sponsored actors have previously demonstrated the capability to cause such outages. Before this event, the Russian group Sandworm’s attacks on Ukraine’s grid were the only confirmed cases of cyberattacks leading to power loss on this scale.

The revelation underscores how offensive cyber operations are increasingly integrated with conventional military actions. Although details remain limited by operational secrecy and national security concerns, this incident signals an expansion of state use of cyber tools against foreign infrastructure in high-stakes geopolitical conflicts.