Lotus Wiper Attack Targets Venezuelan Energy Firms, Utilities

A sophisticated cyberattack targeting Venezuelan energy firms and utilities in late 2025 deployed a new data-wiping malware called Lotus Wiper that systematically destroyed system recovery mechanisms, overwritten physical drives, and deleted files to leave systems unrecoverable. Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab found the attack used living-off-the-land techniques with two coordinated batch scripts, and appears to match a December attack on Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA, which the company blamed on the US. The incident represents a growing trend of nation-state actors using destructive wiper malware as a cost-effective cyber weapon to cause operational damage to critical infrastructure, with experts warning that many energy and utility organizations remain unprepared for such well-resourced attacks.