Last June, on the day the British public went to the polls in the 2017 general election, the country’s energy system was hit by a major cyberattack. According to a leaked memo from spy agency GCHQ, companies across the sector were compromised by hackers. The memo – and press reports at the time – did not name the “state-sponsored hostile threat actors” believed to be responsible. But western experts allege that the attack was likely carried out by Dragonfly, a team of hackers the US claims is based in Russia. One of the problems with cyber security is that the evidence – of who carried out the crime and who they work for – rarely comes to light. Much of the information instead comes from highly politicised security services or firms that benefit from increased spending on cyber security. As the UK embarks on an energy transformation – from new nuclear power plants to renewable energy and home batteries – some, or all, of these networks may be vulnerable to attacks motivated by money, politics or straight-forward blackmail, such as the recent WannaCry attack that paralysed hospitals across the country.
Unearthed 11th June 2018 read more »