The International Atomic Energy Agency is the overseer of the United Nations nuclear plant and it has come out saying that the nuclear power plant was successfully hacked three or four years back together with an attempt to steal uranium at the power station.
Yukiya Amano, the director of the power station told reporters that the attack actually caused some problems at the power station and they had to take some precautionary measures at the power plant before moving forward. Amani was speaking on his arrival in Germany. The incident, fortunately was not severe enough to warrant a closure of the plant, Amano said.
He noted that the hacking incident was rather disruptive than destructive as it had been intended to. Commenting on the issue, he said some cyber attacks on the nuclear related facilities had been encountered and they should be taken seriously. He also noted that they never if they knew everything or they just had tip of the iceberg information.
Back in 2014, South Korean nuclear power company, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power discovered was hit by a number of attacks which moved to disrupt the operations at the station, leading to an online leak of the nuclear manuals. The attack also triggered some concerns about the safety structure of the facility’s network and its stability.
At the time, the North Koreans were suspected of having orchestrated the attack. As usual the country declined the allegations and said that this was a plot against the communist country.
Just this year, another nuclear power plant station in Germany was discovered to have housed a malware on their facilities. Unlike Stuxnet, the malware was said to be ineffective against the plant’s operations. Stuxnet is said to be the world’s first digital weapon, and it was used against the Iranian power plants.
Up to now, the IATA has been able to train about 10,000 people in the nuclear security. This also includes some police and guards which can physically secure the nuclear facilities. They are also providing some nuclear plants which have the power to detect attempted theft of material.
