A high-ranking official at the United Nations is raising concerns over the dangers posed by hackers disrupting nuclear power plants.
In a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson cautioned members about the potential for extremists groups to target these nuclear facilities.
Perhaps most alarming is that Eliasson characterized the threat as one which is becoming increasingly possible.
He described a "nightmare scenario" where hackers take control of the computers at a nuclear power plant and unleash radiation upon the surrounding area.
In the meeting, which was aimed at discussing ways to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, Eliasson also expressed concern about unguarded nuclear materials falling into the wrong hands.
And, as if that is not enough to worry about, Eliasson noted that the emergence of 3D printing as well as the proliferation of drones have created new avenues for terrorists to create unorthodox weapons of mass destruction.
With so many dangers to the world weighing on his mind, we suspect that Eliasson will be kind of a downer at this year's UN Christmas party.
That said, Coast Insiders can learn more about the worrisome vulnerabilities of nuclear power plants to cyber attacks by checking out the 4/7/2016 edition of the program featuring researcher Scott Portzline.
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Source: ABC News