2 Jun (NucNet): An international response is needed to tackle the global threat posed by criminals and terrorists bent on launching cyberattacks against nuclear facilities, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Yukiya Amano has said.
Speaking at the opening of a conference on computer security at the IAEA’s Vienna headquarters, Mr Amano said reports of actual or attempted cyberattacks have become “an almost daily occurrence” around the world and “the nuclear industry has not been immune”.
“Last year alone, there were cases of random malware-based attacks at nuclear power plants, and of such facilities being specifically targeted,” he said.
Mr Amano said computers play an essential role in all aspects of the management and safe and secure operation of nuclear facilities, including maintaining physical protection. “It is vitally important that all such systems are properly secured against malicious intrusions.”
He said staff responsible for nuclear security should know how to repel cyberattacks and to limit the damage if systems are penetrated. The IAEA is doing what it can to help governments, organisations, and individuals adapt to evolving technology-driven threats from “skilled cyber adversaries”.
While nuclear security is a national responsibility, the IAEA plays the central role in helping the world to act in unison against the threat of nuclear terrorism, Mr Amano said. “Terrorists and other criminals operate international networks and could strike anywhere,” he said. “So the response must also be international.”
The 1-5 June 2015 conference, the first of its kind to be held at the IAEA, has attracted more than 650 delegates from 92 member states and 17 regional and international organisations. Organised in cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), the International Telecommunication Union, the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, and the International Electrotechnical Commission, the conference includes representatives of nuclear regulators and plant operators, law enforcement, system and security vendors.
Addressing the conference participants yesterday, Mr Amano said: “Your presence here sends the important message that the international community is serious about protecting nuclear and other radioactive material – and associated activities and facilities – from malicious acts which are either computer-based, or targeted at computers.”
Khammar Mrabit, director of the IAEA’s division of nuclear security, said the conference will identify additional areas where the IAEA can help member states develop “comprehensive computer security programmes within their national security regimes”.
