Iranian Hackers Reportedly Shut Down British Power Plant for Four Days

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ackers working on behalf of Iran’s Islamist regime reportedly forced a British power plant offline for four days, highlighting Tehran’s ability to target Western critical infrastructure through cyberattacks.

The Daily Telegraph reported that the attack was part of an apparent series of Iranian cyber operations that also targeted water infrastructure in the United States.

British officials have not identified the affected power plant but said it was a small facility whose shutdown did not threaten the country’s overall electricity supply.

“It’s a very small scale site, less than a rounding error compared to grid capacity,” a government source told the Telegraph.

A British government spokesman similarly said the incident posed no threat to the country’s energy network.

“The UK has a highly resilient energy system,” the spokesman said. “This story refers to an incident impacting a small-scale energy generator, and at no point was there a risk to the wider energy system.”

The breach nevertheless raises questions about the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure. Sensitive industrial systems have traditionally been isolated from public networks, but increased automation and connectivity have created potential new vulnerabilities.

The reported attack comes as Iran increasingly relies on cyberwarfare as an asymmetric weapon against the United States and its allies following U.S. and Israeli military strikes that weakened Tehran’s conventional capabilities.

Britain has already faced direct threats from Iran during the conflict. An Iranian-made drone launched by Hezbollah targeted a British military base in Cyprus, while Tehran later fired ballistic missiles toward Diego Garcia, home to a joint U.S.-British military facility.

A parliamentary intelligence report last year described cyberwarfare as a “significant area of asymmetric strength” for Iran, which spends millions of dollars supporting hacking operations.

British Security Minister Dan Jarvis warned in April that artificial intelligence is making such attacks easier.

“AI is lowering the barrier to entry for our adversaries,” Jarvis said. “It is automating attacks. It is finding vulnerabilities in critical systems faster than any human team can patch them.”