National Grid seeks 'honeypot' expert to stop hackers

The critical infrastructure provider has posted a contract worth more than £1 million

National Grid, the utilities provider running the UK's gas and electricity networks, is looking for a security expert who can set "honeypots" to catch hackers and improve its defences.

Critical national infrastructure (CNI) like the Grid is a ripe target for cyber crime, with attacks against UK CNI surging in the last year.

Overseas, criminals have attacked the USA's Colonial Pipeline and Ireland's health service, affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

That is why the utilities provider has posted a new contract, worth more than £1 million, to implement digital defences like setting honeypots and planting false documents that appear valuable to attackers online.

The intent is to lure potential attackers into a controlled environment, so National Grid can observe them and then block them from its systems.

A spokesperson for energy regulator Ofgem said suppliers face new responsibilities under the recently-updated Network and Information Systems Regulations.

They told The Telegraph, "We take cyber security incredibly seriously and work closely with energy suppliers to ensure they are doing everything they can to protect their systems and comply with their responsibilities."

Overseas criminals have stepped up their attacks against CNI in recent years.

Prominent examples like Colonial Pipeline and the Irish health service made headlines worldwide, while on a more local level utility providers like water suppliers, have been targeted.

Countries like Russia, China and Iran are commonly blamed for the attacks.

Just this week, news broke that Chinese hackers had targeted email servers belonging to the US government; and in June, Russian hackers from the Fancy Bear group - often linked to the country's GRU intelligence department - breached Ukrainian government servers.

In April, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden warned that Russian hackers were increasing their efforts to "disrupt or destroy" British infrastructure, as a result of the country's sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine.

Ben Read, head of cyber espionage analysis at Mandiant, said: "Russia has historically done a ton of this kind of thing, and it has been investing in it and showing great capability."

However, industry stakeholders have warned that skill shortages are still hampering the UK's ability to defend itself.

Mick Flitcroft, a consultant with NCC Group, said, "We are seeing a slow move to try and grow organic cyber capabilities, but there is a lack of resources in the workforce … Many systems [also] remain vulnerable due to legacy hardware and control systems."

We have contacted National Grid for a comment and confirmation.