Energy Department Lab Suffers Cyber Attack
A lab maintained by the Energy Department was forced to shut down its website and suspend Internet service after the discovery of a cyber attack.
Hackers broke into the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s website, in an attempt to steal privileged information and gain access into the lab’s computer system.
A follow-up attack targeted employees, some of which were vulnerable to an email scam and resulted in malware being installed on their computers. The back-to-back attacks are known to ORNL’s security professionals as Advanced Persistent Threats.
ORNL is the Energy Department’s largest science and energy lab. It is home to the most powerful computer system known as Jaguar. Jaguar was not affected by the cyber attack.
ORNL’s security personnel is still investigating the incident. Currently, emails with attachments are prohibited as well as external email service.