According to reports in UK newspapers The Sunday Telegraph and The Guardian on 23 August and 24 August respectively, hackers linked with Iran have been accused of launching a cyber attack that caused an un-named UK power plant to be temporarily shut down for four days in July. 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 however mark an escalation in the threat posed by Iran after the UK said it had given permission for the USA to launch ‘defensive’ operations against Tehran from British bases. The power plant was shut down for four days as a result of the attack.
A spokesperson for the UK government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “This story refers to an incident impacting a small-scale energy generator, and at no point was there a risk to the wider energy system. The UK has a highly resilient energy system. We work closely with the energy sector to protect infrastructure and ensure the highest security standards.”
Simon Edwards, who runs SE Labs, a company that simulates cyber attacks 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 these groups operate, the techniques they use to bypass cyber systems and identify weak spots to prevent similar attacks in the future.”
Cyber expert Graeme Stewart, head of Public Sector at Check Point: “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 this 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 the 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.”
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 UK government said last month that the UK was ‘ready to defend itself’ after Iran’s military warned that any bases being used by the US were ‘legitimate targets’.
