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Sellafield, UK's Largest Nuclear Waste Fined £400,000 for Cybersecurity Failings

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Sellafield, cybersecurity, nuclear site, fine, national security

Business Honor
03 October, 2024

Regulator highlights serious lapses at UK's most hazardous nuclear site, risking national security.

Britain's biggest nuclear waste plant, Sellafield in Cumbria, has been fined £400,000 after being accused of having committed numerous breaches of cybersecurity. The Office for Nuclear Regulation says that for four years, sensitive information has been left unattended on the Cumbrian site, and thus risks national security. It has been revealed in a hearing at Westminster magistrates court that 75% of the computer servers at Sellafield are vulnerable to cyber attack.

The court ruled that the negligence on Sellafield's part is a "dereliction of responsibilities" to protect workers and the public and the environment from potential harm. Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring also fined the company £332,500 for cybersecurity breaches and £53,200 for prosecution costs.

Despite these limitations, the prosecution failed to prove an actual cyber-attack had taken place against the facility, and the fine was scaled back because of Sellafield's plea of guilt and public funding dependency. The ONR had previously identified a variety of problems with IT capabilities that posed a risk for insider threats that could potentially attain access to confidential information.

Since then, Sellafield has taken up adequate corrective measures in cybersecurity under new management. Its chief executive of the facility, Euan Hutton, is confident that all matters that led to the prosecution have been addressed. He added that the public never faced danger.