Unpacking the Fog: The Dubious Narrative Behind US Cyber Operations in Venezuela

Mysterious Power Outages Amid Political Turmoil

The New York Times recently revealed startling details about a covert cyber operation—supposedly run by U.S. operatives. Unnamed American officials claimed this cyberattack targeted Venezuela’s infrastructure right before the planned capture of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s controversial leader facing U.S. drug charges.

Reports say this precise digital strike blacked out parts of Caracas. Though citywide disruptions lasted just minutes, neighborhoods near military bases suffered paralyzing outages lasting seventy-two hours. At the same time, Venezuela’s military radars went fuzzy, blinding their airspace monitoring. The Pentagon’s Cyber Command reportedly headed this mission.

Tactical Objectives and Technical Shadows

So what was the point? According to the NYT, knocking out Caracas’ power grid and radars together created total chaos—a perfect blind spot. This digital smokescreen apparently let helicopters slip into Venezuelan airspace undetected during that bold attempt to grab Maduro.

But here’s the puzzling part: The report gives zero technical details. That’s wildly different from past cyberattacks we’ve dissected. Remember Russia’s 2015 strike on Ukraine’s power grid? Attackers used BlackEnergy, malware that infiltrated utility networks.

Here’s how it worked: Hackers slid into supervisory control systems (SCADA)—the digital brains managing physical machinery like power plants. Worse, they disguised their sabotage using legitimate functions to trigger massive failures. Result? Over 225,000 Ukrainians lost power for six-plus hours while techs scrambled to fix things manually.

Then, in December 2016, Russia unleashed Industroyer (aka Crash Override)—malware built just to wreck power grids. Unlike BlackEnergy, this nightmare worked independently, blowing up circuit breakers and transformers across Ukraine. Scary stuff.

Case Study Gaps and Geopolitical Implications

So why so much skepticism about Venezuela? Unlike Ukraine—where evidence got picked apart publicly—this Caracas story’s got major holes:

No malware traces tying actions to U.S. Cyber Command
No technical clues about how they did it
Why hit neighborhoods for days but citywide for minutes?

Look—disabling modern SCADA systems always leaves breadcrumbs: malware signatures, hacker entry points, breached firewalls. Russia’s Ukraine attacks? We’re still reading forensic reports years later.

Also, think practically: Seventy-two-hour neighborhood blackouts? Messy, but do they really help military choppers sneak in? Radar jamming makes sense—streetlights going dark? Not so much. Could this be a psy-op signaling U.S. power rather than actual military tactics?

Cyber Tactics Escalate Amid Normative Vacuum

These revelations spotlight a terrifying trend. Messing with civilian grids—Ukraine, Venezuela—it’s happening faster than global rules can catch up. Civilians become pawns as nations push cyber boundaries.

And we’re flying blind—tools like BlackEnergy or Industroyer stay shrouded in secrecy, leaving critical infrastructure worldwide exposed. Without real attribution methods or cyber arms treaties? We’re wide open here at home too.

So is this truly Cyber Command’s playbook? Or smoke-and-mirrors to spook rivals? Frankly, without malware samples or verified intel (like Five Eyes agencies confirming details), we’re stuck in the dark. Until someone shines a light, this fog’s only getting thicker—and the risks? Well, they’re humming through vulnerable SCADA networks everywhere.

Unpacking the Fog: The Dubious Narrative Behind US Cyber Operations in Venezuela