Risk of cyber-attacks on nuclear weapons systems

An ongoing cyber attack on the United States has hit the Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, according to a report in Politico.

Federal officials have evidence that ‘hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies.’ The DOE and NNSA oversee US nuclear energy and nuclear weapons capacities respectively.

 CND General Secretary Kate Hudson said: 

‘The continued existence of nuclear weapons poses a threat to human survival, and cyber-attacks on nuclear infrastructure are one way in which catastrophe could come to pass.

As we argued in our recent Security Not Trident report, the risk of a cyber-attack on Britain’s nuclear weapons systems should not be underestimated. The British American Security Information Council (BASIC) warned in 2017 that such an attack could ‘neutralise operations, lead to loss of life, defeat or perhaps even the catastrophic exchange of nuclear warheads.’

Though American officials insist that hackers did not access critical defence systems, the penetration of Washington’s nuclear capacities underlines the heightened danger of possessing nuclear weapons in a world of cyber and hybrid warfare.

Nuclear weapons are a threat to us all. To ensure real security, our starting point must be their abolition.’