Security News > 2022 > July > Suspected radiation alert saboteurs cuffed by cops after sensors disabled

Spain's national police say they have arrested two former government workers suspected of breaking into the computer network of the country's radioactivity alert system and disabling more than a third of its sensors.

Investigators searched two homes and one company in Madrid and San Agustín de Guadalix, and said they found "Numerous computer and communications devices related to the facts investigated."

"During the investigation it was determined that the two detainees had been responsible for the maintenance program of the RAR system, through a company contracted by the DGPCE, for which they had in-depth knowledge of it, which made it easier for them to carry out the attacks and helped them in their efforts to mask their authorship, significantly increasing the difficulty of the investigation," the police said in a statement.

The RAR system is a network of 800 gamma radiation sensors deployed throughout the nation that monitor radiation levels and are used to generate alerts in the case of excessive levels.

According to the cops, the network security breach had two parts.

Two, over the course of a couple of months, the pair allegedly infiltrated more than 300 of the sensors, causing the compromised devices to fail and not be able to communicate with the control center, thus reducing the network's detection capacity.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/spain_radiation_alert/