The unidentified UK power plant was shut for four days after a suspected Iran cyber attack. Photo / Getty Images
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 with 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 UK 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 Government Communications Headquarters (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 daily.
Major incidents have previously brought down National Health Service (NHS) systems, schools and commercial manufacturing facilities, including production lines at Jaguar Land Rover.
Foreign hacking groups have also stolen customer information from retail businesses, including attacks last year, and voter records from the Electoral Commission.
However, no hacker is thought to have ever succeeded in bringing a British power plant to a standstill, despite warnings that attacks on national infrastructure are commonplace.
It is unlikely that the attack against the UK power plant was intended to inflict genuine harm on civilians, and is not thought to have been widely noticed by the public.
But it is possible that the incident was designed to prove that hackers linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could gain access to systems in the UK and close down sensitive infrastructure sites.
There are dozens of small-scale power plants across Britain connected to the grid. Many of them are gas-fired and only used for a few hours per week, for example when wind speeds are low and extra energy is needed.
