LONDON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- While keeping a tight lid on details, the British government confirmed Friday its energy department was aware of targeted computer-related attacks.
The FBI recently warned U.S. companies to be on alert for destructive malware in the wake of the cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
A report last year from U.S. technology consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton said as much as 90 percent of computers worldwide with intellectual, monetary or strategic value are infected with undetected malicious software, or malware.
The British Department of Energy and Climate Change responded to constituent requests for disclosure with a statement acknowledging it has been the target of cyberattacks.
"DECC confirms that it holds some information falling within the description specified in your request," the agency said. "However, the information requested is withheld."
A cyberattack dubbed "Viper" hit the Iranian energy sector in 2012. The government in response to the attack was forced to disconnect key oil facilities, including control systems at the terminal on Kharg Island in the northern Persian Gulf that handles 90 percent of Iran's oil exports.
James Clapper, the top U.S. intelligence official, told the Senate Intelligence Committee last year a major cyberattack on the United States posed a more grave and immediate threat than terrorism. A voluntary mechanism is in place to guard against attacks on the U.S. energy sector.
The British government, meanwhile, said it was keeping a tight lid on disclosure for the sake of national security. Full disclosure would give would-be attackers the continue their efforts "or may damage any attempt to identify them via law enforcement agencies."
