Poland blocks cyberattack that targeted nuclear research facility

• Poland’s National Center for Nuclear Research reports thwarted cyberattack
• Systems and MARIA reactor remained safe and fully operational
• Authorities investigating; early signs point to Iran, though false flag possible

Someone tried to hack their way into Poland’s National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), the organization reported late last week.

In a brief announcement posted on its website, the research institution said that it recently thwarted an attempted attack on its IT infrastructure and that its systems were not compromised.

“All security systems worked in accordance with the procedures, the attempt was blocked, and the actions taken allowed for the immediate protection of the infrastructure and maintaining the continuity of the Institute's work,” the announcement reads. “No production, operational or research processes were disrupted, and the MARIA reactor operates safely and without disruptions, at full power," said Prof. Jakub Kupecki, Director of the NCBJ.

Iranians being blamed

The organization did not discuss the nature of the attack, so we don’t know if the crooks tried to exploit a software vulnerability, or engineer an employee into giving away login credentials. For all we know, this could have been a simple phishing email with a malware attachment.

It was probably more serious than that, though, since the institution decided to report the incident to relevant authorities and have its defenders on high alert.

“The National Center for Nuclear Research remains fully prepared to respond to any attempts to breach the digital security and critical infrastructure of the State,” the machine-translated notice reads.

While defenses are up, the politicians are pointing fingers on Iran.

"The first identifications of the entry vectors, i.e. those places ​from which (the center) was attacked, are related to Iran," Minister for Digital Affairs ​Krzysztof Gawkowski told private broadcaster TVN24+, Reuters reports. "When there is ‌final ⁠information and the services will check it, we will verify it, but there are many indications that it took place on the territory of Iran."

However, BleepingComputer also stressed that this might have been a false flag attack.

Via BleepingComputer

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