The Jordanian nuclear researcher, Dr. Ayman Ahed Abu-Ghazal, noted the need to take a set of technical measures and political measures to address the dangers of modern technologies to global nuclear security.
Despite the significant benefits of the use of smart technologies to communities, states and individuals, the widespread use of the IoT, smart technologies and AI technologies may be seen as one of the biggest potential threats to global nuclear security in the near future.
"At present, the level of safety at nuclear facilities has risen and is constantly evolving, but there is something that can overcome any defense: the human mind," said Abu Ghazal, a researcher at the Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission for the Future Observatory. Now that nuclear accidents are virtually non-existent at nuclear power plants, thanks to the development of digital control technologies and accessories, a more sophisticated risk has emerged: the unfortunate impact of the information age on one of the world's most important industry sectors, as the likelihood of a cyber attack increases. "It is dangerous for civilian nuclear infrastructure."
"The trend towards the use of digital technologies, coupled with the lack of executive-level awareness of nuclear power plants from workers who are unaware of the full extent of their cyber vulnerability, makes them unwilling to deal with any possible attack," he said.
An example of such attacks was in September 2010, when nearly 30,000 industrial computer systems in Iran were infected with Stuxnet. The breach led to the closure of more than 1.3,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges. In December 2014, Hackers arrived at the South Korean Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. operator's internal network and hacked into the network after sending more than 5.9,000 pirated messages to the company's employees.
“The perception that all nuclear facilities are completely cut off from the public Internet is a myth,” Abu-Ghazal said. “The commercial benefits of Internet connectivity mean that a number of nuclear facilities now have connections based on a virtual private network (VPN), which he does not know. Sometimes facility operators.
In light of the many risks, there is a set of policy and technical measures to address threats and challenges. “The most prominent of these measures is to establish principles for measuring cybersecurity risks in the nuclear industry, including an integrated risk assessment that takes all security and safety measures into account,” he said. Engage in strong dialogue with engineers and contractors to raise awareness of cybersecurity risks, including the risk of unauthorized Internet connections. "The rules, if any, should be applied to disinfect nuclear facilities of some types of technology and enforce the rules where they exist, while improving advance disclosure of information by encouraging clandestine exchange of information and establishing an industrial computer emergency response team."