Britain’s vast Sellafield nuclear complex on the Irish Sea has been hacked for years by groups linked to Russia and China, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper. There was initially no official confirmation of this.
The first attacks were discovered no later than 2015, when so-called sleeper malware (malware, note) was discovered, the newspaper reported on Monday in its online edition, citing sources in the British intelligence services and the regulatory authority Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR ).
The ONR said only that cyber standards were not being adhered to at Sellafield. “Some specific matters are subject to ongoing investigations and we cannot comment further on them at this time,” the agency said.
As the Guardian further reported, it is unclear whether the malicious software has now been removed. “This could mean that some of Sellafield’s most sensitive activities, such as transporting radioactive waste, monitoring hazardous materials leaks and checking for fires, have been compromised,” the report said. High-ranking officials are said to have covered up the successful attacks.
Largest plutonium storage facility in the world
The large area on the northwestern English coast with around 11,000 employees includes, in addition to a nuclear power plant, the largest plutonium storage in the world and a nuclear waste dump.
Source: Krone
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