SiegedSec Hacker Group Claims Massive Data Breach at Idaho National Laboratory
On Sunday, the hacker group SiegedSec, known for their politically motivated attacks, claimed on Telegram to have breached the personnel management application of the Idaho National Laboratory. The group alleges that it accessed detailed information about employees of this nuclear research laboratory, including full names, social security numbers, banking details, and addresses. A portion of the stolen data was published by the group, though the claim of stealing the entire data set could not be verified.
Lori McNamara, a representative of the laboratory, confirmed the breach but noted that the full extent of the incident is still being determined.
While the hackers did not explain their specific targeting of this laboratory, the leak poses a serious threat to U.S. national security. Scientists at the Idaho National Laboratory are involved in some of the country’s most confidential defense projects, including the protection of critical infrastructure. The breach potentially opens up opportunities for foreign intelligence agencies to infiltrate the laboratory by exploiting personal employee data.
Among the disclosed files is a detailed list of recent terminations and their reasons. Other documents contain over 6,000 current social security numbers. As of October 2022, the laboratory employed about 5,500 people.
Another file contains more than 58,000 lines of data on current, terminated, and former employees. Some information in the stolen files is dated as recent as October 31, 2023.
The laboratory has contacted the FBI and the Cybersecurity Agency to investigate the incident. Both Oracle and the FBI declined to comment.
The Idaho National Laboratory is one of 17 research centers operated by the U.S. Department of Energy. It specializes in nuclear energy, energy security, and other national security issues, including cybersecurity.
It remains unclear how SiegedSec penetrated the personnel management application and managed to extract such a large volume of diverse personal information.
This is not the first instance of U.S. national laboratories being targeted by hackers. U.S. National Laboratories work on everything from nuclear weapons to renewable technologies and everything in between and has been the subject of several state-supported hacking operations. Earlier this year, hackers attacked Brookhaven, Argonne, and Lawrence Livermore laboratories.
SiegedSec, the group claiming responsibility for the breach, has a history of conducting politically motivated cyberattacks, including claims of hacking NATO systems. The group last attacked NATO in October, claiming to have stolen about 3,000 documents.
