Iran-linked hackers blamed for taking down U.K. power plant for first time, reports say

Key Points:

• Iranian-affiliated hackers temporarily took a small UK power plant offline in July, marking the first known shutdown of such a facility by Iranian-linked actors in the country, according to British media reports.
• The same month, Iranian-linked hackers targeted water systems in a dozen U.S. states, causing operational disruptions including pressure loss and flooding by locking out operators.
• Both attacks exploited vulnerabilities in programmable logic controllers (PLCs), critical automated industrial system components widely used in energy, water, manufacturing, and other essential services.
• The hacking methods were reportedly unsophisticated, relying on scanning for exposed devices and exploiting default passwords rather than advanced exploits, highlighting security gaps in legacy industrial equipment.
• British officials have not disclosed the affected power plant's identity, emphasized no impact on the UK's overall power supply, and have not confirmed the attack, while experts suggest these incidents may be preliminary tests for future, more impactful cyberattacks.