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Modat reported on 6 October 2026 that it could confidently attribute 8,547 internet-facing systems to operating wind farms and solar parks across 35 European countries. That is a lower-bound count of systems—not turbines or panels—and “internet-facing” does not establish that a system was compromised. The examples do, however, show why exposed operational interfaces deserve attention.

What does the 8,547 figure count?

Modat, an internet-intelligence company, says it identified 8,547 systems reachable from the internet and confidently linked to operating wind or solar sites. It mapped operating sites in 40 countries, but reported attributed systems in 35. Because it counted a system only when it could confidently connect it to a particular site, Modat describes the total as a lower bound; additional systems may remain unattributed. The public summaries do not provide a count of confirmed compromises.

The figure is not a tally of individual turbines or solar panels. A system may serve several turbines or an entire wind farm, so system counts alone do not show how many generation assets could be affected or establish comparative risk.

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How do the solar and wind figures compare?

Category Attributed systems Countries with attributed systems Geographic concentration reported by Modat What one system may serve
Solar 7,942 34 Spain accounts for 2,766, or 35% of the solar total. Greece, Italy, and Germany bring the top four countries to 76%. Modat’s public summary does not specify a typical solar system’s scope.
Wind 605 23 Germany accounts for 212 and Italy for 192; together they make up 67% of the wind total. Some identified systems can serve several turbines or a whole farm.

These are the country breakdowns in Modat’s 2026 announcement. The report does not establish that the larger solar count represents greater operational risk: the number of systems is not a measure of their access, vulnerabilities, or potential impact.

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What was visible on the exposed systems?

Modat’s examples include a web interface for a wind turbine that displayed live production data, its map position, and Start, Stop, and Reset controls. Another example was a login page that named the protected wind park and displayed the default username “root.” These examples show that some interfaces exposed operational information or controls; they do not establish that every system in the tally was unauthenticated, exploitable, or accessed by an attacker.

Modat has withheld park names, operators, IP addresses, and precise locations, and says it is notifying affected parties through national CERTs. Those details are not necessary to understand the reported risk and could identify sensitive infrastructure.

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How did Modat compile the count, and what remains uncertain?

Modat says it mapped operating wind farms and solar parks across EU, EFTA, and candidate countries, then used machine-learning clustering in its Magnify platform to group similar internet-visible systems and surface device types without prewritten search rules. It included a system in the total only after confidently attributing it to a specific site.

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The public summaries do not state scan dates, confidence intervals, or device-by-device validation details, and they do not provide enough information to reproduce the scan independently. The aggregate count is therefore best read as Modat’s reported lower bound, not a complete census or a finding that every listed system presented the same level of exposure.

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What does internet exposure mean for renewable-energy security?

Internet reachability can make administrative or operational interfaces discoverable beyond the site’s intended users. Renewable-energy operators also rely on remote operations and supplier connections, which makes it important to know what is reachable, who can reach it, and how access is controlled. But exposure by itself is not evidence of unauthorized access, a successful attack, or an impending grid outage.

A separate event illustrates the distinction between context and proof about this scan. pv magazine Global reported on 7 October 2026 that CERT Polska’s analysis of December 2025 attacks described at least 30 renewable-energy sites targeted through internet-exposed firewall devices. The report said generation continued even as sites lost communications with distribution operators. That incident does not show that any system in Modat’s count was involved.

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What should operators do?

Modat recommends a defense-in-depth response rather than treating exposure as a single-fix problem. Its recommendations include:

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  • Remove administrative interfaces from the public internet where they do not need to be publicly reachable.
  • Plan and monitor operations with an assume-breach posture.
  • Use secure connectivity designed around operational-technology (OT) principles.
  • Maintain the ability to operate OT manually where appropriate.
  • Adapt procedures to threat levels and defined trigger events.
  • Maintain visibility into assets, architecture, access, and supplier connections.
  • Share relevant information across the energy sector.

Modat founder and CEO Soufian El Yadmani said: “What we can map in hours, an attacker can map in hours too. You can’t defend what you can’t see, and no one can see this whole landscape alone.”

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