'Unprecedented' cyberattack on UK power plant caused by hackers linked to Iranian regime - report

Iranian hackers affiliated with the regime in Tehran shut down a British power plant for four days in an "unprecedented" cyberattack in late July, the Telegraph reported on Saturday. 

According to the Telegraph, it is believed to be the first successful attack of its kind in the UK.

Though British officials have not named the targeted power plant, citing security concerns, the outlet noted that it is "relatively small" and, as such, the attack did not affect the UK's national power supply or its ability to generate power.

“We have thresholds for important generators to legally notify us of cyber activity, and this site is nowhere near," a British government source told the Telegraph. "It’s a very small-scale site, less than a rounding error compared to grid capacity.”

A British government spokesperson added that the UK has a "highly resilient energy system."

"We work closely with the energy sector to protect infrastructure and ensure the highest security standards," the spokesperson 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.”

Attack took place during cyberattack targeting US water systems

The attack occured during the reported Iranian cyberattack that targeted over 30 municipal water systems in Minnesota and several other states in the US, according to the Telegraph.

US President Donald Trump stated in late July that he did not think Iran was behind the cyberattack

Joe Slowik, director of threat research for Dataminr, told The Washington Post at the time that similar attacks have occurred in water and energy systems across the United States since the beginning of the war with Iran.

“It is not a secret that these things have been taking place since the spring,” he said. “There have been disruptions in multiple critical infrastructure sectors. It’s a big deal.”

Kurt Gaudette, head of intelligence for Dragos, noted that the cyberattacks had generally been against "very low-hanging fruit" - vulnerable systems such as small utilities that used default passwords and whose controllers were open to the internet.