Russian top supercomputer for nuclear research tweaked to mine cryptocurrencies

Several scientists of the main Russian nuclear center have been arrested under suspicion of using a supercomputer to mine cryptocurrencies. Russia’s most powerful supercomputer, capable of running 1000 trillion calculations per second, at heavily secured nuclear center in Sarov, was allegedly connected to the Internet by the scientists, and tweaked to mine Bitcoin, BBC reports. Once the air-gapped computer – disconnected from the Internet to prevent intrusions and attacks – was put online, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) was immediately alerted, The Verge reports.