nuclear-news

 Sellafield staff ‘used home computers to beat security failings’.

Cybersecurity fears grow amid claims Britain’s most hazardous nuclear
site was targeted by hackers linked to Russia and China. Staff at
Sellafield were asked to work on sensitive projects using their home
computers, a former employee has said, amid questions about cybersecurity
at Britain’s most hazardous nuclear site after claims it was hacked by
groups linked to Russia and China.

Claire Coutinho, the energy secretary,
is due to meet representatives from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
(NDA) after an investigation alleged that state actors had embedded sleeper
malware into the computer network at Sellafield, the largest nuclear waste
and decommissioning site in Europe.

Sources told The Guardian that IT
breaches had been detected as far back as 2015, and accused the
organisation’s leaders of having “consistently covered up” the scale
of the intrusions. Highly sensitive material potentially relating to the
movement of radioactive waste and monitoring of leaks had likely been
compromised, and it is still unknown as to whether the malware has been
successfully eradicated, the newspaper reported.

A former staff member, who
worked as a senior manager at the site between 2008 and 2021, told The
Times that staff had a “complacent” and “lax” attitude towards
cybersecurity, with employees often leaving their login details attached to
their computers and frequently having to be reminded to lock their screens.

 Times 9th Dec 2023

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sellafield-staff-used-home-computers-to-beat-security-failings-ccxwqwv3x

December 13, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, UK