UK suspects Iranian hackers behind power station outage

The British government suspects that hackers linked to Iran carried out a cyberattack that temporarily shut down a small UK power station, according to The Guardian.

A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said the incident posed no risk to the wider national energy system.

According to The Sunday Telegraph, the power station was offline for four days last month as a result of the attack.

The spokesperson added that the UK has a resilient energy system and is working with the energy sector to protect infrastructure and maintain the highest security standards.

Meanwhile, the National Cyber Security Centre said it had not received any reports from regulated power station operators about service disruptions.

Richard Horne, chief executive of the centre, warned of a rise in cyberattacks targeting systems that support essential services in the UK, with threats coming from countries such as Russia, China, and Iran.

Last month, the British government reiterated its readiness to defend itself after Iran’s military warned that any bases used by the United States would be considered legitimate targets.

London has allowed Washington to conduct defensive operations against Tehran from UK bases but has refused to participate in offensive actions. The government has not changed this policy, and the agreement with the US was extended last week.

Iran has faced accusations for years of launching cyberattacks on several countries, including attacks linked to power outages in Turkey in 2015 and possible breaches of Israeli government websites in 2022.

US security agencies have also issued warnings about attacks by hackers linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and Washington has claimed that the "Cyber Avengers" group targeted 75 devices in infrastructure sectors in 2023.