Attackers breach nuclear waste plant, allegedly stealing its entire database
Radon, a nuclear waste management plant operated by Russia’s nuclear energy behemoth Rosatom, allegedly had its systems breached with attackers stealing testing data and user information.
Radon, a nuclear waste management plant operated by Russia’s nuclear energy behemoth Rosatom, allegedly had its systems breached with attackers stealing testing data and user information.
The state-owned nuclear waste management plant’s data appeared on a popular data leak forum, with attackers claiming a fresh data breach. According to the post, the breach netted attackers a significant amount of sensitive data, ranging from names of people conducting tests as well as test statistics.
Losing this type of data would be a major issue for any company, but the attack could be even more problematic for Radon, as the company works with radioactive waste.
The company handles radiation-hazardous materials from numerous facilities across Russia’s nuclear complex. From 1986 through 1989, Radon was tasked with eliminating the consequences of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
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We’ve reached out to the company for comment and will update the article once we receive a reply.
The Cybernews research team attempted to investigate the attacker’s claims, but noted that the data sample is currently inaccessible due to a download limit on the attacker’s side, indicating a high interest in the alleged data breach.
Attackers claim that the leaked data includes numerous sensitive details, such as:
- Tester names
- Test statistics
- User IDs
- State data
- Email addresses
- Phone numbers
The most glaring issue with the attack is the very fact that attackers can potentially get inside the systems of a company dealing with one of the most sensitive materials on the planet. A motivated attacker could use the access to forge testing documents, deeming some areas safer or more hazardous than they actually are.
Cybercriminals or nation-state actors could also use the data to target Radon’s employees with spear-phishing attacks to gain deeper access into the company’s systems.
“If there's any PII or contact info of Radon employees, it could be used for social engineering, and possibly further identity profiling if combined with other data,” our team explained.
Headquartered in Moscow, Radon is Russia's primary operator for managing decommissioning and cleanup of nuclear facilities. The company is responsible for the collection, transportation, storage, and final disposal of conditioned low-and intermediate-level radioactive wastes (LILW) as well as radiation monitoring.
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