Working in the Nuclear industry raises a few concerns when it comes to cyber-security. As the world evolves into a more advanced digital age, everyone and everything starts to become interconnected. Nuclear powerplants, facilities, government buildings, and even INPO are no exceptions.

At INPO, we are moving towards upgrading our intranet to SharePoint 2010 and looking to move our extranet to SharePoint 2010 as well. With the new technology platform, security from cyber threats can be real. A good bit of discussions have been had here at INPO as far as how we prepare ourselves for the new changes.

Interestingly enough, the computer virus Stuxnet came up in one of the conversations. Stuxnet is a computer virus that has run rampant in the industrial sector of many countries, Iran in particular. This poses a particular threat to the Nuclear industry because our industry is not isolated from other industries. The nuclear program in Iran has been targeted and involved the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in an incident. Potential threats, such as Stuxnet, are something that INPO and the industry has to prepare for in the coming years.

This video explains in a nutshell what Stuxnet does:

Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

An infographic dissecting the nature and ramifications of Stuxnet, the first weapon made entirely out of code. This was produced for Australian TV program HungryBeast on Australia’s ABC1

Direction and Motion Graphics: Patrick Clair www.patrickclair.com

Written by: Scott Mitchell

Production Company: Zapruder’s Other Films.