Not so safe after all

 January 6, 2013

Information hacked from Monju reactor control room

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20140106_43.html 

The operator of the Monju fast-breeder reactor on the Sea of Japan coast says computer hackers may have stolen data on internal e-mails and training records.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency says it found that one of the 8 computers in the central control room had been illegally accessed more than 30 times from a South Korean website after an employee updated free software on the PC last Thursday.

Agency officials say about 42,000 inter-office e-mails and staff training reports were stored in the computer.

They say part of the data may have been stolen, because they found indications of out-bound transmissions.

The officials suspect that the computer was infected during the software updating procedure.

But they say they have confirmed no illegal accesses to the other computers at the reactor complex, and that information important to the plant's safety was not leaked.

Last November, the plant operator was warned by the Nuclear Regulation Authority that its anti-terrorism measures were insufficient.