Low-risk 'worm' removed
at hacked South Korea nuclear operator
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[December 30, 2014]
By Meeyoung Cho
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean authorities
have found evidence that a low-risk computer "worm" had been removed
from devices connected to some nuclear plant control systems, but no
harmful virus was found in reactor controls threatened by a hacker.
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Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co Ltd said it would beef up cyber
security by hiring more IT security experts and forming an oversight
committee, as it came in for fresh criticism from lawmakers
following recent hacks against its headquarters.
The nuclear operator, part of state-run utility Korea Electric Power
Corp, said earlier this month that non-critical data had been stolen
from its systems, while a hacker threatened in Twitter messages to
close three reactors.
The control systems of the two complexes housing those reactors had
not been exposed to any malignant virus, Seoul's energy ministry and
nuclear watchdog said in a joint statement on Tuesday, adding the
systems were inaccessible from external networks.
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Energy Minister Yoon Sang-jick told a parliamentary session that
evidence of the presence and removal of a "worm" - which the
ministry said was probably inadvertently introduced by workers using
unauthorized USB devices - was unrelated to the recent hacking
incidents, drawing scepticism from some lawmakers.
"I doubt control systems are perfectly safe as said," Lee Jung-hyun,
a lawmaker in the ruling Saenuri party, told the committee hearing.
Worries about nuclear safety in South Korea, which relies on nuclear
reactors for a third of its power and is the world's fifth-largest
nuclear power user, have mounted since the 2011 Fukushima disaster
in Japan and a domestic scandal in 2012 over the supply of reactor
parts with fake security certificates.
"We will prepare fundamental improvement measures by enhancing
nuclear power's safe operation and hiking information security
systems to the highest level following this cyber attack case,"
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power said in a statement.
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Seoul prosecutors have not ruled out possible involvement of North
Korea in the cyber attack on the nuclear operator, which Pyongyang
has denied.
Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power President and CEO Cho Seok told the
hearing that all control systems of the country's 23 nuclear
reactors were safe against malignant codes. On Sunday, he said that
cyber attacks on non-critical operations at the company's
headquarters were continuing, although he did not elaborate for
security reasons.
The nuclear plant operator said on Tuesday it was increasing the
number of staff devoted to cyber security from 53 to around 70, and
would set up a committee of internal and external experts to oversee
security.
Chun Soon-ok of the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy
party said: "The government's nuclear power policies have lost
people's trust and whatever broke out only makes people concerned
more."
(Editing by Tony Munroe and Alex Richardson)
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