// HACKER NEWS — CYBERSECURITY
Iranian hackers shut down UK power plant for 4 days
Unprecedented cyber attack believed to be most successful of its kind
Iran shut down a British power plant for four days in an unprecedented cyber attack, The Telegraph can disclose.
It is thought to be the first time that hackers affiliated to the Iranian regime have succeeded in closing down such a facility in the UK, and is believed to be the most successful cyber attack of its kind.
The Telegraph understands that the incident took place at the same time as a series of attacks on US water infrastructure last month, which affected 12 states and caused concern in the White House.
British officials refused to be drawn on which power plant had been affected, citing security concerns, but it is understood that the facility was disabled for four days while staff fought to bring it back online.
It is understood that the plant affected was relatively small and that the outage had no impact on the UK’s wider power supply or energy generation.
In response, the Government briefed the chief executives of power companies and wrote to businesses with advice, direction and next steps.
The incident is understood to have been reported to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a public-facing branch of the GCHQ spy agency that issues advice to companies on keeping national infrastructure safe from foreign threats.
British and American intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned of the risk posed by hackers from Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, which bombard critical national infrastructure and government agencies with attacks on a daily basis.
Major incidents have previously brought down NHS systems, schools and commercial manufacturing facilities, including production lines at Jaguar Land Rover.