Cyber attacks, pandemics and electromagnetic disturbances are the three top "high
impact" risks to the U.S. and Canadian power-generation grids, according to a
report from the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC).
"The specific concern with respect to these threats is the targeting of
multiple key nodes in the system, if damaged, destroyed or interrupted in a
coordinated fashion, could bring the system outside the protection provided by
traditional planning and operating criteria," states the report, "High-Impact,
Low-Frequency Risk to the North American Bulk Power System."