U.S. federal documents revealed that the Department of Energy's various database has been successfully breached at least 159 times within the span of four years since 2010. A number of government officials have expressed fears that virtual attackers may soon be able to take down the country's electric power grid.

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USA Today reported that it has obtained official papers, which state that the DOE from 2010 until 2014, experienced more than a thousand virtual attacks.

Homeland security and management professor Scott White said that the idea of unknown hackers causing havoc to the country's supply of power is a distinct possibility.

DOE officials, however, would not reveal if hackers have been able steal important information or if any foreign individual or state are behind some of the cyber attacks.

Andrew Gumbiner, DOE spokesperson said they could not talk about the subject because the agency is still investigating the matter.

A sub agency under the DOE called the National Nuclear Security Administration is tasked with keeping the inventory of America's nuclear weapons. However, the NNSA has also reported that hackers have successfully attacked its digital database almost 20 times.

The Office of Inspector General said that the various weak spots in the DOE's computer network system are now known but made no mention if they have been strengthened.

Almost two years ago, hackers were able to obtain records of more than 100,000 DOE personnel. Investigation revealed that the cyber attack was made possible because many of the department servers and computers have passwords that can easily be cracked. Those in charge of computer network security have also been found to be remiss of their duties.

Around 30 percent of the successful cyber attacks were made by hackers posing as network administrators. The energy department's Science Office has been successfully attacked at least 90 times. The Science Office generally overseas all energy research in the United States

U.S. senators are currently debating on the proposed increased funding for the Department of Energy. Democrats led by Senator Martin Heinrich wants more funds for the DOE. The senator told media that the country's power grid needs to be protected since it is very vulnerable to cyber attacks at its current state.

TagsDepartment of Energy, comouter hacking, Cyber Attack, doe cyber attack, hackers hit doe, national nucleat security administration, nuclear weapons breach, senator martin heinrich, doe science office, office of inspector general