Spain probes «unusual activity» from North Africa ahead of widespread power outage

The National Cryptologic Center (CCN), a Spanish intelligence agency within the National Intelligence Center responsible for cryptanalyzing and deciphering, reported detecting «significant and unusual activity originating from North Africa» just days before the sudden power outage that occurred at 12:32 p.m., affecting large parts of Spain, Portugal, and France.

According to Servimedia, citing sources within the center, the Spanish intelligence agency is conducting extensive investigations into the outage, which coincided with a noticeable spike in cyber threat levels—raising the possibility that it may have been a precursor to a large-scale cyberattack.

However, the same sources cautioned that it is too early to conclude that a cyberattack was the cause. They suggested the incident may have been the result of a «complex malfunction with multiple causes» between the Spanish and French power grids following a series of tests, without offering further details.

In a related development, Infobae reported, citing sources at the National Intelligence Center, that «the source of the unusual activity was not Morocco», without naming any other specific entity.

The National Cryptography Center, together with the National Cybersecurity Institute, is tasked with protecting critical infrastructure and state institutions from digital threats and cyberattacks.

The outage led to a complete halt in train services, major disruptions in air travel and public transportation, and the failure of traffic signals in several areas, temporarily paralyzing vital infrastructure.