Most Nuclear Facilities are vulnerable to Cyber Attacks
There is no denial that cyber criminals are the biggest threat of this generation for organizations and governments. We have witnessed the devastation a cyber attack can create in an organization, but have you ever heard about a cyber attack on a country's nuclear facilities?
In this era every country has its own group of hackers, who conduct criminals activities in countries which are a threat to their economic growth or national security. And there is no better way to destabilize or create chaos in a country by hacking into their Nuclear facilities. Maybe the third world countries so far hasn't understood the devastation a cyber criminal activity can cause.
The newest study by Nuclear Threat Initiative discovered; there are 20 nuclear facilities around the world who are extremely vulnerable to a cyber attack. Most of these facilities are located in a third world country like; Korea, Argentina, Israel, Iran, Mexico and Egypt.
The cyber security vulnerabilities in these facilities can a create chaotic situation if a cyber criminal targets a facility. Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities can lead towards the control of nuclear plant or disable of defense systems which are used to protect nuclear material from theft.
The report writer Page Stoutland said; "twenty countries failed on all the indicators". The report didn't show full analyses on the nine countries cyber protection systems which possesses the nuclear weapons. Because of the secrecy surroundings of the nuclear facilities in those countries.
The report published also concludes that President Obama’s global initiative to sweep up loose nuclear material, which will be the subject of his third and final nuclear security summit meeting this March, has slowed substantially.
In this era every country has its own group of hackers, who conduct criminals activities in countries which are a threat to their economic growth or national security. And there is no better way to destabilize or create chaos in a country by hacking into their Nuclear facilities. Maybe the third world countries so far hasn't understood the devastation a cyber criminal activity can cause.
The newest study by Nuclear Threat Initiative discovered; there are 20 nuclear facilities around the world who are extremely vulnerable to a cyber attack. Most of these facilities are located in a third world country like; Korea, Argentina, Israel, Iran, Mexico and Egypt.
The cyber security vulnerabilities in these facilities can a create chaotic situation if a cyber criminal targets a facility. Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities can lead towards the control of nuclear plant or disable of defense systems which are used to protect nuclear material from theft.
The report writer Page Stoutland said; "twenty countries failed on all the indicators". The report didn't show full analyses on the nine countries cyber protection systems which possesses the nuclear weapons. Because of the secrecy surroundings of the nuclear facilities in those countries.
The report published also concludes that President Obama’s global initiative to sweep up loose nuclear material, which will be the subject of his third and final nuclear security summit meeting this March, has slowed substantially.
The report has raised some major concerns and some major steps are needed to be taken by those 20 countries to avoid any future chaos. The biggest threat those nuclear facilities faces are from Pro - ISIS hackers, who are already making a name for themselves.
This lack of understanding of new and emerging threats and corresponding under-spending in security are pervasive.
While cyber-security is one area that needs addressing, we need an integrated approach that considers all aspects of nuclear facilities security and operations. Over reliance on governments or intergovernmental institutions to solve these problems will fall short.
