UK suspects Iranian hackers behind power station outage

British authorities suspect Iranian-linked hackers were responsible for a cyberattack that caused a UK power station to shut down for four days last month, according to The Guardian. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero confirmed the incident posed no threat to the national energy system. The power station was offline for four days as a result of the attack, as reported by The Sunday Telegraph.

The UK government emphasized its resilient energy system and collaboration with the energy sector to safeguard infrastructure and uphold high security standards. Meanwhile, the National Cyber Security Centre reported no service disruptions from regulated power station operators. Richard Horne, chief executive of the centre, cautioned about an increase in cyberattacks targeting critical services in the UK, with threats originating from countries like Russia, China, and Iran.

Last month, the British government reiterated its willingness to defend itself against Iran's claims that U.S. bases within Iran would be legitimate targets. Despite allowing U.S. defensive operations from UK bases, the government has not participated in offensive actions against Iran, and the agreement with the U.S. was extended last week.

Iran has a history of launching cyberattacks, including those linked to power outages in Turkey in 2015 and possible breaches of Israeli government websites in 2022. U.S. security agencies have also warned about attacks by hackers connected to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and Washington has accused the "Cyber Avengers" group of targeting 75 infrastructure devices in 2023.