Hackers linked to Russia and China breach UK's most dangerous nuclear facility – The Guardian

An investigation by The Guardian has revealed numerous cybersecurity issues at the Sellafield nuclear site, the largest such facility in the UK and home to the world's largest storage facility for radioactive plutonium.

Source: European Pravda, citing The Guardian

Details: The investigation found that Sellafield's cybersecurity troubles had been known to its management for at least the last 10 years, but they had not reported them, and, as UK special services believe, such silence was deliberate.

The investigation into the site's cyber vulnerabilities, carried out by the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), has been nicknamed Voldemort after the main antagonist of the Harry Potter universe, as its servers store highly sensitive data, including nuclear incident and nuclear attack response plans.

The extent of the issue was only discovered when Sellafield staff at an external site discovered they could access its servers and notified ONR. The investigation said external contractors could have exploited the vulnerabilities at the site.

There are other indicators of lax security awareness among Sellafield staff. In July last year, the facility's login details and passwords to secure IT systems were accidentally broadcast on the BBC as part of a story about rural communities and the nuclear industry.

Moreover, The Guardian reported that cyber groups with close ties to Russia and China were able to access Sellafield's servers. The breach, which had been publicly hushed up, was discovered back in 2015, but it remains unclear whether the malware was removed from the company's servers.

"It may mean some of Sellafield’s most sensitive activities, such as moving radioactive waste, monitoring for leaks of dangerous material and checking for fires, have been compromised."

The Guardian's sources in the UK nuclear regulator say Sellafield was placed under special control last year due to cybersecurity issues, adding that future prosecution of those responsible for the current situation has not been ruled out.

Launched in 1956, the Sellafield nuclear site covers six square kilometres on the Irish Sea coast and is one of the world's most dangerous. It is home to the largest plutonium storage facility on the planet, as well as a sprawling rubbish dump for nuclear waste from military programmes and decades of nuclear power production.

Under the protection of armed police, Sellafield also holds contingency plans that would be used should the UK be attacked by a foreign power or suffer a disaster.

There have been numerous warnings in the UK that hackers supporting Russia are seeking to disrupt or destroy the country's critical infrastructure.

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