"Nuclear Facilities in 20 Countries May Be Easy Targets for Cyberattacks"

As reported by the New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Twenty nations with significant atomic stockpiles or nuclear power plants have no government regulations requiring minimal protection of those facilities against cyberattacks, according to a study by the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

The findings build on growing concerns that a cyberattack could be the easiest and most effective way to take over a nuclear power plant and sabotage it, or to disable defenses that are used to protect nuclear material from theft. The countries on the list include Argentina, China, Egypt, Israel, Mexico and North Korea.

More.

"Nuclear commission risks being hacked because of organizational issues: watchdog report"

As reported by the Washington Times:

Computer networks used by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission pose a real possibility of being exploited by hackers as a result of inadequate organization among security personnel, a federal report found this week.

The NRC’s inspector general said in a 18-page assessment released on Tuesday that its Security Operations Center, or SOC, isn’t “optimized to protect the agency’s network in the current cyber threat environment.”

More.

"'Simple and affordable' drones could be turned into flying bombs that target nuclear power stations...in lone wolf attacks, security experts warn"

As reported by the U.K. Daily Mail:

Simple and affordable drones readily available on the high street [a British phrase, meaning "geared to meet the requireents of, and readily available for purchase by, the general public," or "referring to the typical shops and businesses found on the high street, or main street, of towns"] could be turned into flying bombs by lone wolf ISIS terrorists, security experts have warned.

A report by the Oxford Research Group's Remote Control Project lists a range of British targets which could be struck by the toy drones - including nuclear power stations, a G7 summit or the prime minister's car.

The think-tank warns that terrorists and activists are already using the commercially available devices - which can cost as little as £100 [$145 U.S.] - with the technology of remote control warfare 'impossible to control'. (Emphasis added)

The article goes on:

The report, The Hostile Use of Drones by Non-State Actors Against British Targets, claims that drones could 'be used as simple, affordable and effective airborne improvised explosive devices'. 

An assertion in the article must be challenged, however. The article states:

In April 2015, an anti-nuclear activist landed a drone containing radioactive sand on the Japanese prime minister’s office...

However, the individual alleged to have carried out that drone landing is not associated with the Japanese anti-nuclear movement, long serving Japanese anti-nuclear movement activists have pointed out.

The article concludes by quoting Chris Abbott, the lead author of the Remote Control Project/Open Briefing report:

'Drones are a game changer in the wrong hands. The government needs to take this threat seriously and commit to a range of countermeasures that still allow for legitimate commercial and personal use.'

But of course, atomic reactors could be permanently closed, solving the security risk now posed by malicious drone attacks (as well as solving a large number of additional safety, health, and environmental risks inevitably associated with splitting atoms to generate electricity). And high-level radioactive waste storage facilities could also be designed and built with security vulnerabilities in mind -- something that does not currently take place, for the most part.

"CIA Eyes Russian Hackers in ‘Blackout’ Attack"

Photo Illustration by Emil Lendof/The Daily Beast

Journalist Ted Koppel, formerly with ABC News, recently published a book warning about cyber-attacks on the electric grid.

It may have just happened for the first time that can be proven.

This article by Shane Harris in the Daily Beast cites numerous government and industry cyber-security experts, who warn that an electricity outage in western Ukraine that took place just before Christmas could have been caused by an intentional cyber-attack. If it was, this would be the first time such a cyber-attack on the electric grid caused an electricity outage, anywhere in the world, the article reports.

And to add to the concern, there is conjecture that the Russian government may have been behind the attack, or at least approving of it.

The attacks raise concerns about the vulnerability of the U.S. electric grid to a similar cyber-attack. As reported by the article:

The attack in Ukraine could be a bad omen for the U.S. power grid. Malicious software that was found on the networks of the [Ukrainian electric] company, Prykarpattyaoblenergo, was also used in a campaign targeting power facilities in the U.S. in 2014. It caused no damage but it set off alarms across the security and intelligence agencies.

At the time, the Homeland Security Department warned companies about the malware, known as BlackEnergy, which it said had been used in a hacking campaign that “comprised numerous industrial control systems environments…”

Industrial control systems are used to regulate the flow of electricity and to remotely control critical systems at power facilities. Security experts have warned for years that they could be commandeered via the Internet and give a hacker the ability to turn off electricity to whole cities.

Of course, the loss of electricity from the grid to nuclear power plants could begin a descent into chaos that ends in catastrophic radioactivity releases. The alternating current (AC) from the electric grid is the primary source of power to run safety and cooling systems at atomic reactors, as well as their adjacent high-level radioactive waste storage pools.

If the grid is lost, nuclear power plants do have back up emergency diesel generators (EDGs). However, these too could be cyber-hacked and rendered dysfunctional. In addition, the article mentions that cyber-attacks could lead to weeks or even months of blackout. Diesel fuel supplies to run EDGs at nuclear power plants are measured in days, not months.

A cyber-attack on the Ukrainian electric grid is especially troubling, considering that Ukraine has 15 operational atomic reactors.

And Caroline Baylon et al. at Chatham House in the U.K. have published a report, Cyber Security at Civil Nuclear Facilities: Understanding the Risks.

Cyber Security at Civil Nuclear Facilities: Understanding the Risks - See more at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/cyber-security-civil-nuclear-facilities-understanding-risks#sthash.lfNUIyca.dpuf, including a specific warning about the potentially catastrophic risk to nuclear power plants from such an attack.

Update on January 8, 2016 by admin

As reported by Tracy Staedter at Discovery.com, "Ukraine Power Grid Hack Could Happen in U.S."

Update on January 10, 2016 by admin

Jeremy Kirk at NetworkWorld has reported that "Malware alone didn't cause Ukraine power station outage: The attackers manually intervened to open breakers that caused power outages."

Update on January 11, 2016 by admin

As reported by Jeremy Kirk at NetworkWorld: "Russian group suspected to be linked to Ukraine power station cyberattack."