Around the world, cyber-attacks have grown immensely in the last decade. From creating a simple worm to creating a complex program known as Stuxnet, for messing up centrifuges that Iran had built for enriching Uranium (the element used in the fuel for a nuclear power plant, as well as for the production of the nuclear bomb), attacks continue to rage the cyberspace world.
Reports of a cyber-attack against a nuclear power plant have recently surfaced. The attack, rumoured to have taken place a few years ago, was mentioned by Yukiya Amano, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Amano added that from that same plant, a worker also tried to smuggle out Uranium for making a small atomic bomb.
On his official visit to Germany, Amano spoke with news outlets, saying that this attack shouldn’t be taken lightly, and that the attack was not something insubstantial, but rather, poses a real threat. He further stated that such cyber-attacks should be taken very seriously and are not something that hackers do for fun.
However, when asked to discuss the details of the cyber-attack, the director of the IAEA refused to give out any details, but simply said that the hack has caused some problems at the atomic power plant. He further stated that the attack was nothing serious and didn’t shut operations down, but was rather “disruptive.”
Amano relates the attack to the Sony Pictures Entertainment attack that took place two years ago, where the hackers didn’t do anything damaging to the company, but they did cause some trouble. The same situation can be applied to the nuclear power plant, he states, as they engineered some of the internal networks and made them dysfunctional.
Likewise, a nuclear power plant threat rose again, when suicide bombers in Belgium, who were responsible for the death of more than a dozen people, had the intentions to attack the nuclear facility.
However, according to a nuclear facility based in South Korea, whose data was stolen a few years back, they announced a beefing up of their online and network security systems because the last hack cost them serious amounts of data, and are now concerned the next attack might cost them something more. Likewise, Germany’s Rhenish-Westphalian Power Plant has also increased their network’s security as the computers inside the facility contained many viruses.
Experts in the field of cyber security say that even today, there are many nuclear facilities out there that are vulnerable and can easily be manipulated.
Yukiya Amano also said that the United Nations is going to help countries train in boosting up their cyber security and overall nuclear security, as well. According to Amano, the IAEA has trained thousands of people in nuclear security – from scientists to security guards – and has also provided many countries the necessary instruments for discovering radioactive materials. In last year’s IAEA conference, cyber security was the most discussed topic, which was held in Vienna in the winter’s past year.
Source: Trip Wire
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