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1 day ago 3 min read
Iran-linked hackers have been accused of launching a cyberattack that caused a British power plant to be temporarily shut down.
The isolated incident involved a small-scale energy generator, according to the UK government, which emphasised that at no point was there a risk to the wider energy system.
The incident does mark an escalation in the threat posed by Iran after the UK said it had given permission for the US to launch “defensive” operations against Tehran from British bases.
The power plant was shut down for four days as a result of the attack last month, according to the Sunday Telegraph.
Simon Edwards, who runs SE Labs, which imitates cyberattacks from criminal groups to test for vulnerabilities, said, “This attack underlines the very real threats cyber warfare can pose to critical national infrastructure. Hostile nation states have more than enough malice and resources to fund and enable similar attacks in the future, that’s why it’s vital that the UK’s energy network ramps up its defences with immediate effect.”
Key to this effort is understanding exactly how groups operate, techniques they use to bypass cyber systems and identify weak spots to prevent similar attacks in future.
Graeme Stewart, Head of Public Sector at Check Point, the cybersecurity software firm, said, “This marks a grave escalation in the Iran conflict because a hostile state-linked cyber threat has reportedly reached into UK energy infrastructure and caused a physical shutdown lasting four days. That should concern every organisation responsible for keeping this country running.”
The fact that it was a relatively small generator and the wider grid was unaffected does not remove the threat. The far more serious point is what the attackers appear to have demonstrated: an ability to get inside UK energy infrastructure and stop it working.
“We have to ask what happens if the next target is bigger, more critical or more deeply connected to the services millions of people rely on,” he said.
Patrick Sullivan, CEO of the Parliament Street think tank, said, “The Iran war has arrived on British soil and one thing you can guarantee is it won’t be the last cyber attack we face.”
The boom in artificial intelligence and geopolitical tensions are giving rise to increased cybersecurity threats, the head of the UK’s cybersecurity agency .
