Hackers believed to be linked to Iran have been blamed for a cyberattack on a small energy site in Britain, which was knocked offline for four days.
The incident took place last month but only became public on Sunday, according to reports in the Financial Times and the Guardian. British authorities have not disclosed which facility was targeted, citing national security concerns.
The government has clarified that the site was a small scale power generator, not classified as critical national infrastructure. Its shutdown did not affect the national grid or the country's overall electricity output, according to the Financial Times.
Following the attack, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero briefed energy company leadership and issued guidance aimed at preventing similar incidents, the Guardian reported.
The cyberattack took place around the same time as strikes on water infrastructure in 12 American states. Those US attacks were attributed to the group CyberAv3ngers, which American authorities have linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Financial Times.
That group had targeted industrial control systems used to manage pumps, pressure and water treatment processes. In some cases, the attackers changed access credentials and locked administrators out of their systems, forcing facilities to temporarily halt operations, the Guardian reported.
British cybersecurity agencies had been warning organisations and businesses since March of a heightened risk of attacks from Iran linked groups, particularly against energy and other critical infrastructure, according to the Financial Times.
Source: Financial Times, the Guardian
