On Friday evening, Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory with a population of around 64,000, experienced a major power outage that affected the island's internet and phone service. The government declared it a serious incident and asked customers to unplug all sensitive electrical equipment while crews worked to restore power. BELCO, the island's sole electricity provider, reported a mass outage and the Minister of National Security Michael Weeks was kept informed of the progress. All government offices were closed and the public was encouraged to unplug sensitive devices. The power outage also caused a decrease in the region's internet connectivity, with some customers losing their telephone connection. NetBlocks and Cloudflare Radar both observed a dip in the island's internet traffic. BELCO was able to restore power to 90% of its customers by 8:30 PM and all circuits were back up by 9:45 PM. By 11:00 PM, Cloudflare Radar observed internet traffic levels returning to normal. BELCO President Wayne Caines apologized for the inconvenience and said that a root cause analysis would be conducted to determine the cause of the outage. The last major island-wide power outage in Bermuda occurred in December 2020.
This Cyber News was published on www.bleepingcomputer.com. Publication date: Sat, 04 Feb 2023 14:12:03 +0000