LEH: Chinese hackers targeted electricity distribution centers near Ladakh between August and March, a report of the US-based cyber security group Recorded Future has said.
Incidentally, these clandestine operations took place after the border disengagement between Indian and Chinese armed forces started in February 2021.
Union Minister for Power and New and Renewable Energy RK Singh has confirmed the report in Bloomeberg that Chinese hackers had targeted the Indian power grid. Going into specifics, he said there had been two cyber attacks but both attempts had been thwarted. Although the Minister did not identify the precise locations, the targeting was geographically concentrated in North India, “in proximity to the disputed India-China border in Ladakh.”
During the breach, data passed in and out of at least seven Indian Load Dispatch Centres to the Chinese state-sponsored command and control servers spread across the world. These centres are responsible for carrying out real-time operations for grid control and electricity dispersal in the areas they are located; in addition, the hackers compromised an Indian national emergency response system and a subsidiary of a multinational logistics company, according to the report in Bloomeberg.
‘‘We've since then strengthened our defence system to counter such cyber attacks," Singh was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
‘‘Recorded Future tracks Chinese state-sponsored activity groups targeting a wide variety of sectors... However, the coordinated effort to target Indian power grid assets in recent years is notably distinct from our perspective and, given the continued heightened tension and border disputes between the two countries, we believe is a cause for concern," the report said.
The Chinese Ministry for Foreign Affairs hasn’t responded with a statement over these attempts. Beijing, of course, in the past has consistently denied involvement in malicious cyber activity.
Meanwhile, the top brass of the Indian Army and Air Force have been assessing the preparedness and infrastructure requirements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as the two sides continue to remain locked in a standoff in eastern Ladakh.
