Caracas went dark just as U.S. forces moved to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday. The blackout did more than hide troops; it showed how malware can shape modern battles.
U.S. Cyber Command and allied units are believed to have deployed a grid‑focused payload inside Venezuela’s power operator.
Once triggered, the code quietly opened breakers, desynced control systems, and cut links between field devices and central consoles.
The result was a staged collapse of power in key districts of Caracas, limiting civilian harm while blinding loyalist forces across the city.
Politico analysts later identified the malware as a modular grid‑attack tool, drawing clear lines to earlier campaigns against regional utilities.
Their review of network telemetry and timing data points to a custom loader that reached control networks through compromised VPN gateways.
From there, the malware mapped substation controllers and tagged priority feeders that supplied power to central Caracas.
According to regional grid engineers, the first signs of trouble appeared as short, rolling drops on monitoring screens, not as a full collapse.
Logs show abrupt but orderly trips in several 230 kV lines, followed by a wave of false sensor values that confused local operators. By the time backup diesel plants spun up, the core of the city was already dark.
Infection Mechanism and Payload Behavior
The infection chain began with spear‑phishing emails sent to engineers at the national utility, carrying a signed remote‑access tool hidden in a fake maintenance report.
Once a user opened the file, the loader used stolen VPN credentials to pivot into the control network, then dropped a second‑stage module on Windows servers that managed SCADA workstations and historian databases.
On infected servers, the malware ran a tight loop that queried live breaker status and queued shutdown commands only when the grid load stayed within a safe band.
This design helped keep the strike precise, limit damage to hardware, and slow review after the city came back online. It also delayed responders, who faced clean logs, fake readings, and systems that seemed to recover on their own.
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