The Guardian said an investigation into the Cumbria nuclear station uncovered safety flaws dating back to 2015, which it said had not been reported to regulators for “several years”.
The year-long investigation, named Nuclear Leaks, said sleeper malware which can be used to spy on or attack systems had been embedded in the networks and could still be there.
But a representative for Sellafield Ltd, which manages the site under the control of the government’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, said the company had “no records or evidence” that its networks had been “successfully attacked through state actors. ” , as indicated in the report.
He said: “Our tracking systems are physically powerful and we are confident that there is no such malware on our system.
“At Sellafield, we take cybersecurity incredibly seriously. All of our systems and servers have layers of protection.
“The critical networks that allow us to operate securely are isolated from our overall computer network, which means that an attack on our computing formula would not allow them to penetrate. “
The Guardian’s investigation looked at hacking, radioactive contamination and office culture at the site, which housed a nuclear plant until 2003 and is used for the treatment and storage of nuclear waste, as well as decommissioning.
The report cites resources from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ONR) that say Sellafield was subject to “special measures” last year due to cybersecurity failures.
An ONR spokesperson told The Guardian: “Some explicit issues are the subject of ongoing investigations, so we cannot comment further at this time. “
Ed Miliband, shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, told the newspaper that the report was “very worrying” and should be “treated with the utmost seriousness” by the government.
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