Lights stay on despite cyber-attack on UK's electricity system

Electricity pylons carrying power away from Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Britain’s energy system has fallen victim to a cyber-attack targeting the IT infrastructure used to run the electricity market.

The electricity system’s administrator, Elexon, confirmed that it was affected by a cyber-attack on Thursday afternoon but that the key systems used to govern the electricity market were not affected.

National Grid is investigating whether the attack could affect the part of its business tasked with keeping the lights on.

A spokesman for the energy system operator said electricity supplies had not been affected, and there were “robust cybersecurity measures in place” to make sure the UK continues to receive reliable electricity.

“We’re aware of a cyber intrusion on Elexon’s internal IT systems. We’re investigating the matter and any potential impact on our own IT networks,” he said.

Elexon is a vital part of the UK electricity market because it carefully monitors the electricity generated by energy companies to match this with what National Grid expects to receive, and to make sure that generators are paid the correct amount for the energy they generate.

Elexon said it had “identified the root cause of a cyber-attack” and was “working to resolve the issue”. None of its employees were able to access email on Thursday, the company added.

The attack emerged days after the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) identified an increasing number of “malicious cyber actors” which are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic for their own objectives.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, condemned the attacks targeting global health experts, hospitals and healthcare systems and vowed to work with the UK’s allies to “hold the perpetrators to account and deter further malicious cyber activity around the world”.

Earlier this week, two companies involved in building emergency coronavirus hospitals confirmed that they were hit by cyber-attacks this month.

Interserve, which helped build Birmingham’s NHS Nightingale hospital, and BAM Construct, which delivered hospitals in Yorkshire and the Humber, have both reported cyber-attacks.