Are India's power plants targeted by pro-China hackers?

Mumbai, March 8, 2021, Wednesday

A recent report in the New York Times claimed that a cyber attack by pro-China bakers was responsible for the massive power outage in the economic capital Mumbai in October 2020. The claim is based on a report by an American research company. The power outage disrupted some local trains running on the tracks. Online examinations of colleges and mobile telephone service were also adversely affected.

Simultaneous power outages have created fear in millions of families. Although power supply was resumed in phases, the grid failure lasted for 12 hours. In this regard, the Maharashtra government blamed a human error for the power outage in Mumbai. However, an inquiry was also ordered into how the power grid malfunctioned. Tensions were high on the border between India and China when a power outage occurred in Mumbai. According to sources, the Union Energy Ministry has said that some of India's power plants have been targeted by pro-China hackers without mentioning the Mumbai power outage. However the attack did not have any adverse effect on the energy centers.

The National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Center informed the energy ministry last month that a Chinese group called Red Eco, backed by the Chinese government, had attempted to disassemble regional load dispatch centers and state loads in the Indian energy sector from a malware called Shadow Pad. China's foreign ministry has denied allegations of attacks by hackers, saying China is an advocate of cyber security. Experts believe that a new front of cyber attack has been opened by China, so India needs to be vigilant. Australia has previously accused China of a cyber attack. China is thus also notorious for fighting the Digital War to spread economic damage and chaos.