STORY
The Government has briefed energy company executives on measures to protect infrastructure following reports that hackers linked to Iran forced a small British energy generator offline for four days. The incident was reported to have taken place in July, although the Government has not confirmed who was responsible or disclosed the location or identity of the affected facility.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the Government and industry had taken the incident seriously and were working with regulators and the National Cyber Security Centre to assess threats and strengthen protection. He said the generator involved was very small compared with what would normally be regarded as a power station and stressed that there had been no threat to the wider electricity grid.
The Department for Energy said nobody lost power as a result of the incident and described the UK energy network as highly resilient. The reports were published by the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph, which attributed the attack to hackers linked to Iran. The Iranian embassy in London had not commented on the allegations when approached by Reuters.