Department of Energy

Subordinate organizations

• Los Alamos National Laboratory (LASL)

History

2023: Hackers attack 3 US nuclear labs

On January 6, 2023, it became known that the Cold River hacker group attacked three American nuclear research centers that are part of the US Department of Energy.

According to Reuters, the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton (New York, Long Island), the Argonne National Laboratory 40 km southwest of Chicago (Illinois) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near Livermore (California) were subjected to cyber attacks. Attacks on these scientific organizations were carried out between August and September 2022.

Hackers attacked US nuclear laboratories

To hack the IT infrastructures of the listed laboratories, the Cold River group formed fake login pages for each institution and sent emails to nuclear scientists informing them that they needed to be identified. As a result, in the hands of hackers were logins and passwords for connecting to computer systems of scientific organizations.

During the investigation, Reuters was unable to determine why these laboratories were attacked by the Cold River group. Whether the invasion attempts were successful and whether the attackers were able to steal any information is also not clear. The attacked institutions refuse to comment. Meanwhile, Reuters, citing the findings of cybersecurity specialists from Google, British defense contractor BAE and American firm Nisos, reports that Cold River allegedly has ties to Russian hackers. Reuters presented its findings to five industry experts who confirmed Cold River's involvement in attempts to hack nuclear laboratories based on common digital traces, which researchers have historically associated with this cybercriminal group.^[1]

1955

Nuclear physics. A mobile remote manipulator designed to extract an irradiated target from a 152-centimeter cyclotron at Argonne National Laboratory, the oldest national research center of the US Department of Energy. 1955.

Notes