Many countries are leaving themselves wide open to cyber attacks on their nuclear facilities, a watchdog group reports.
The analysis by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, released Thursday, finds that 20 nations with atomic materials or nuclear plants do not have a single legal or regulatory requirement in place to protect their facilities from cyber attacks. Iran, North Korea, China and Indonesia were among those on the list.
Of the two-dozen countries with weapons-usable nuclear materials, only nine received the maximum score on cybersecurity.
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"The current global nuclear security system has dangerous gaps that prevent it from being truly comprehensive and effective," NTI President Joan Rohlfing said in a press release. "Until those gaps are closed, terrorists will seek to exploit them."
The report comes ahead of the fourth and final Nuclear Security Summit, a gathering of world leaders and international organizations aimed at preventing nuclear terrorism, scheduled for March 31 through April 1 in Washington.
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