18 May Europe’s supercomputers hijacked by attackers for crypto mining
The Archer supercomputer in Edinburgh was one of those affected
At least a dozen supercomputers across Europe have shut down after cyber-attacks tried to take control of them.
A pan-European supercomputing group says they seem to have tried to use the machines to mine cryptocurrency.
“A security exploitation” disabled access to the Archer supercomputer, at the University of Edinburgh, on 11 May.
Staff said they were working with the National Cyber Security Centre to restore the system, which had recently installed a pandemic modelling tool.
“We now believe this to be a major issue across the academic community as several computers have been compromised in the UK and elsewhere in Europe,” the team said.
The NCSC said: “We are aware of this incident and are providing support.
“The NCSC works with the academic sector to help it improve its…