The UK’s energy network administrator has been hit by a cyber attack which compromised internal IT infrastructure.

Elexon, which is the administrator for the UK electricity market, was alerted to the attack on Thursday afternoon, stating that its internal systems had been targeted, but the central data systems used to run the network remained unaffected and were continuing to work as normal.

A notice on Elexon’s website confirmed that its internal IT systems had been impacted by a cyber attack and that as a result the organisation was not currently able to send or receive any emails.

Elexon monitors the the volumes of electricity and gas produced by the UK’s energy suppliers and compares this with the demand of National Grid to ensure supply levels and ensure that energy generators are paid the correct market price for the energy supplied.

National Grid, the energy systems operator which supplies electricity and gas to UK households and businesses, is investigating whether the incident could impact its own IT networks.

A statement posted to social media said: “Electricity supply is not affected. We have robust cyber security measures across our IT and operational infrastructure to protect against cyber threats.”

Commenting on the incident, Jérôme Robert – director at cyber security specialist Alsid said:
“As this Elexon attack shows, critical national infrastructure, such as power networks, have always been an attractive target for hackers. And for those same hackers, the coronavirus pandemic is the gift that keeps on giving.

"Although there is still much we don’t know about this specific hack, with most employees working remotely, security professionals are faced with unprecedented new threats caused by the behaviour of staff and challenges around enabling remote access. In short, securing networks and data has never been more challenging."

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