- Polish National Center for Nuclear Research reports foiling cyberattack
- MARIA systems and reactor remained safe and fully operational
- Authorities investigating; first signs point to Iran, although false flag is possible
Someone tried to break into the Polish National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), the organization reported late last week.
In a brief announcement on its website, the research institute said it had recently thwarted an attempted attack on its IT infrastructure and that its systems had not been compromised.
“All security systems operated in accordance with procedures, the attempt was blocked and the measures taken made it possible to immediately protect the infrastructure and maintain the continuity of the work of the Institute,” the statement said. “No production, operational or research processes have been disrupted, and the MARIA reactor is operating safely and without interruption at full power,” said Professor Jakub Kupecki, Director of the NCBJ.
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Iranians are blamed
The organization did not discuss the nature of the attack, so we don’t know if the crooks attempted to exploit a software vulnerability or trick an employee into revealing their login credentials. For all we know, it could be a simple phishing email containing a malware attachment.
But it was probably more serious than that, since the institution decided to report the incident to the competent authorities and put its defenders on alert.
“The National Nuclear Research Center remains fully prepared to respond to any attempted violation of digital security and critical state infrastructure,” the machine-translated notice said.
As defenses are raised, politicians point the finger at Iran.
“The first identifications of the entry vectors, that is to say the places from which (the center) was attacked, are linked to Iran,” Digital Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski told private channel TVN24+, reports PK Press Club. “When there is final information and the services verify it, we will verify it, but there are many indications that this took place on Iranian territory.”
However, BeepComputer also pointed out that it may have been a false flag attack.
Via BeepComputer
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