Sellafield nuclear site has denied claims that it has been hacked by cyber groups closely linked to Russia and China.
Sellafield has released a statement to refute claims from the Guardian that the site has faced a significant cyber security breach.
The Guardian reported that the Sellafield breach could be detected as far back as 2015, and it is unknown if the malware has yet been removed.
The news outlet claims that the cyber security breach has been consistently covered up by senior staff at the Cumbria site.
Statement from Sellafield
Sellafield has denied the claims made by the Guardian in a recent statement: “We have no records or evidence to suggest that Sellafield Ltd networks have been successfully attacked by state actors in the way described by the Guardian.
“Our monitoring systems are robust, and we have a high degree of confidence that no such malware exists on our system.
“This was confirmed to the Guardian well in advance of publication, along with rebuttals to a number of other inaccuracies in their reporting.
“We have asked the Guardian to provide evidence related to this alleged attack so we can investigate. They have failed to provide this.
“We take cyber security extremely seriously at Sellafield.
“All of our systems and servers have multiple layers of protection.
“Critical networks that enable us to operate safely are isolated from our general IT network, meaning an attack on our IT system would not penetrate these.”
‘Areas where improvements are required’
The Office for Nuclear Regulation has also commented on the Guardian’s article, stating that they have also seen no evidence that Sellafield has faced a cyber security breach in the way described by the report.
Although Sellafield is not meeting certain high standards required and needs to meet certain areas of improvement, according to ONR, “there is no suggestion that this is compromising public safety.”
The ONR has placed Sellafield under significant attention to ensure that improvements are made to achieve the high standards of safety expected.
ONR stated: “With new leadership in place at Sellafield Ltd, we have seen positive signs of improvement in recent months but will continue to apply robust regulatory scrutiny as necessary to ensure the ongoing safety of workers and the public.”
The regulator concluded in its statement that there are some specific matters that are subject to an ongoing investigation process, but they are unable to comment further at this time.
