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Sellafield told to pay nearly £400,000 after pleading guilty to cybersecurity failings
The Guardian
|October 03, 2024
Sellafield will have to pay almost £400,000 after it pleaded guilty to criminal charges over years of cybersecurity failings at Britain's most hazardous nuclear site.
The vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria left information that could threaten national security exposed for four years, according to the industry regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which brought the charges. It also found that 75% of Sellafield's computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attack.
Sellafield had failed to protect vital nuclear information, Westminster magistrates court in London heard yesterday. The chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, said that after taking into account Sellafield's guilty plea and its public funding model he would fine it £332,500 for cybersecurity breaches and £53,200 for prosecution costs.
The state-owned company had already apologised for the cybersecurity failings. It pleaded guilty to the charges - which relate to IT security offences from 2019 to 2023 - when they were brought by the ONR in June.
Judge Goldspring said the case fell into a category "bordering on negligence" and a "dereliction of responsibilities".
This story is from the October 03, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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