RICHLAND,
Wash. (AP) — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state
is restoring its computer system this week after a cyberattack.
Spokesman
Gregg Koller says that when officials became aware of the sophisticated
attack Friday, they shut down most computer services for employees,
such as email and access to the Internet. Local AM radio station KONA
said computer experts have been analyzing the attack and installing a
security patch. Employees worked through the Fourth of July weekend to
restore computer services, though email and the facility website remain
down Wednesday morning.
Spokesman
Gregg Koller could not immediately be reached for additional details on
the incident, although his voicemail described the incident as a
“sophisticated cyberattack against the laboratory.”
The
incident is the latest in a string of hacking attacks against a wide
range of websites, both corporate and governmental. In April, hackers
targeted Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which shuttered its website for a
week as a result. Koller says Battelle’s corporate offices in Ohio and
Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory in Virginia also were targeted in
last week’s attack.
Full access will be restored once the Lab can repel further attacks, the facility wrote on Twitter. No classified information was compromised or was in danger from the attack, according to the Bellingham Herald. The national lab in Richland conducts scientific research, including nuclear science related to the Hanford nuclear reservation.
SOURCES: The Associated Press, Fox News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Bellingham Herald
