Green watchdog communications wrecked by cyber attack
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Computer systems at the Scottish Government’s green watchdog have been crippled for two weeks by a “complex and sophisticated” cyber attack.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) says that internal and external communications have been “significantly impacted”. Its email system has been down, and “internal systems” and “processes” have been affected.
The attack is under live criminal investigation by Police Scotland. No details have been given on who might be responsible, or whether or not a ransom has been demanded.
Sepa is responsible for regulating over 5,000 industrial sites across the country to prevent them from polluting land, water and air. It maintains huge databases to monitor the state of Scotland’s environment, and keeps records of pollution breaches by companies.