Critical Infrastructure Security, Incident Response, TDR

IAEA director: cyberattack against a nuclear power plant occurred years ago

International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) director Yukiya Amano said there was a successful cyberattack of an unnamed nuclear power plant two to three years ago, according to a Reuters report.

The power plant cyberattack “caused some problems” and caused the plant to “take some precautionary measures,” the United Nations agency head said. He also warned of military attacks targeting nuclear plants, the report said.

Amano said there was an attempt about four years ago to smuggle a small amount of highly enriched uranium that could have been used to build a ‘dirty bomb'. “This is not an imaginary risk,” he said during a visit to Germany, according to Reuters.

The comments heighten concerns raised by a report in April in which 44 percent of energy, utilities, and oil and gas executives reported a 50 to 100 percent increase in the rate of successful cyberattacks targeting the sector.

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