Massive Failure In Power Grid Causes Blackout In Argentina And Uruguay, Leaving Tens Of Millions Of People With No Power.

Power has now been restored to much of Argentina and Uruguay following an unexplained failure in the electrical interconnection system of both countries. This unprecedented power outage affecting Argentina and Uruguay left tens of millions of people in Argentina and Uruguay in darkness for several hours on Sunday.

The blackout is reported to have occurred shortly after 7:00 am local time on Sunday 16 June 2019 in Argentina, cutting power to the entire country. Local newspapers and social media captured images of towns and cities without power, with long lines of cars queuing at petrol stations. The outage has been reported as the biggest blackout in recent history across Latin America.

Argentinian President Mauricio Macri said in a series of comments on Twitter: "This is an unprecedented case that will be thoroughly investigated". Argentina's energy secretary, Gustavo Lopetegui, has also said that the Government does not believe a cyber-attack caused a massive power outage, although "At this moment we do not rule out any possibilities but...a cyberattack is not within the preliminary alternatives being considered".

Whilst the losses have not been attributed to a cyber-attack, social media commentators were quick to notice the coincidental timing with a New York Times article, published hours earlier, noting the United States' previously unreported deployment of computer code inside Russia's power grid (here).

As of now, no explanation for the outage has...