Most States With Nuclear Weapons-Grade Material Unprepared for Cyberattack

The majority of states with nuclear weapons-grade material do not have adequate cybersecurity in place to protect their facilities from theft and sabotage, according to a new study released on Thursday by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — For the first time, NTI, an independent global security organization, assessed the cybersecurity of the 24 nuclear weapons-capable states as well as the 152 nations with little to no weapons grade nuclear material.

"Nearly half the countries assessed do not have a single requirement in place to protect their nuclear facilities from cyberattacks, and only nine of the 24 countries with weapons-usable nuclear materials received the maximum score on cybersecurity," the new NTI report stated.

Russia, the United States, Belarus, Canada, France and the United Kingdom were among the top 13 nations who received the maximum score for cybersecurity.

NTI warned about a cyber threat to nuclear facilities, stating "such an attack could facilitate the theft of nuclear materials or an act of sabotage."

The report was released ahead of the fourth annual Nuclear Security Summit to be held in Washington, DC at the end of March. The Summits were initiated by President Barack Obama as part of an effort to secure vulnerable nuclear materials, and prevent the trafficking and sale of illicit nuclear material.