Print this article The shift to cleaner energy forebodes greater cybersecurity challenges as the economy adds new technologies and relies increasingly on electricity to fuel vehicles and heat homes. The cyberattack that forced the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline exposed vulnerabilities of existing oil and gas infrastructure. But there are also risks of transitioning from a bulk fossil-fuel dependent system to one that’s decentralized with additional points of contact. “Cyberattacks are the war of the future, and unfortunately, the energy economy will not be spared that,” said Cynthia Quarterman, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center and a former administrator of the Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. “The more that we are interconnected, the more vulnerability we have with respect to cyberthreats.”