Joint cyber security workshop with US Department of Energy at HAEA

The Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority, together with the United States Department of Energy, organised a workshop on the protection of programmable systems (cyber security), between 10th and 14th July, 2023 at the HAEA headquarters. The purpose of the event was to provide development opportunities for the Hungarian experts in a special, but increasingly important, field of nuclear security.

Unlike previous similar trainings, the workshop was divided into two separate parts for different target audiences. On the first three days, cyber security specialists invited from the HAEA, nuclear facilities, radioactive waste storage sites, and the Hungarian Defence Forces, received advanced training from the U.S. instructors. Through lectures and small group exercises, they covered topics such as threat assessment for programmable systems, different protection strategies and procedures, the design of defence in depth and network segmentation. During the exercises participants were also able to learn about past real incidents and the experiences learnt from them.

On the last two days, representatives of institutional licensees, such as hospitals and research facilities, who are involved in the physical protection, but not necessarily experienced in cyber security, received a basic, comprehensive picture of the protection of programmable systems. The agenda included areas such as threats related to healthcare facilities and their assessment, the insider threat, the basics of defence strategies and incident response, as well as the cyber security aspects of procurement of programmable systems. The instructors also presented previous real events and good international practices.

The HAEA will hold similar trainings and events for Hungarian experts, in cooperation with the U.S. partner, in the future to support the development of Hungary's nuclear security.