Experts warn hackers could shut down entire power grids by hijacking cloud accounts


Whenever an AI data center thinks really, really hard, it can increase its power consumption so much to trigger disruptions and possibly even blackouts and gear malfunctions. So, is it possible for a malicious actor to trigger this scenario deliberately, in order to cause physical harm?

Multiple researchers from the Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, wrote a research paper titled “Bit2Watt: A Cyber-Physical Vulnerability Exploiting GPU Workloads Across Power and Computing Infrastructures.”

In it, they claim that a malicious cloud tenant is, in theory, capable of launching GPU workloads so intensive that they cause physical damage.

Read more…
Source:  TechRadar News


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Inside AD CS Escalation: Unpacking Advanced Misuse Techniques and Tools

    May 11, 2026

    Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS) is a foundational component of Windows enterprise infrastructure, responsible for managing public key infrastructure (PKI) and issuing certificates that enable authentication and encryption across networks. Despite its critical role in the enterprise identity infrastructure, AD CS is often undermined by insecure default configurations and design complexities, resulting in exploitable ...

  • Yarbo responds to robot flaws that could mow down their owners

    May 11, 2026

    A researcher found that Yarbo yard robots came with a host of vulnerabilities which, among others, allowed an attacker to harvest WiFi passwords. Security researcher Andreas Makris found he could remotely hijack thousands of Yarbo yard robots worldwide, and proved it by having his mower run him over. The root cause was a cluster of “legacy” design choices: ...

  • Vibe Hacking: Two AI-Augmented Campaigns Target Government and Financial Sectors in Latin America

    May 11, 2026

    Threat actors using AI is an unsurprising and even long-predicted developmentopen on a new tab. In a case in point, TrendAI™ Research has identified two emerging threat campaigns that used agentic AI to drive intrusion operations against government entities and financial organizations across several countries in Latin America. Though evidence suggests that the two groups are likely ...

  • Water company’s leaky security earns near-£1M fine

    May 11, 2026

    The UK’s data protection watchdog has fined South Staffordshire Water’s parent company nearly £1 million over security failings exposed by the Cl0p ransomware attack in 2022. Issuing the fine of £963,900 ($1.3 million), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the attack exposed “significant failures in the company’s approach to data security.” The attack, claimed by Cl0p, was detected ...

  • Adversaries Leverage AI for Vulnerability Exploitation, Augmented Operations, and Initial Access

    May 11, 2026

    Since our February 2026 report on AI-related threat activity, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has continued to track a maturing transition from nascent AI-enabled operations to the industrial-scale application of generative models within adversarial workflows. This report, based on insights derived from Mandiant incident response engagements, Gemini, and GTIG’s proactive research, highlights the dual nature ...

  • Experts warn nearly half of the world’s passwords can easily be cracked in just a few minutes

    May 8, 2026

    Using real-world samples recovered from the dark web, Kaspersky researchers have tested how long it would take to crack most passwords, and found that almost half of the world’s passwords can be cracked in less than a minute. Additionally, the research shows that within an hour, that number rises to three out of five passwords. Armed with this knowledge, ...