China denies allegations of power outage in Mumbai

 

India's power grid shutdown could be part of China's operation to send a message to India that if it puts up more resistance on the border, the entire country could be without power: New York Times

China has been blamed for a sudden power outage for several hours in Mumbai last October, but China has dismissed all such reports as "extremely irresponsible".

Based on a study by Recorded Futures, a company that monitors Internet usage through government agencies in the United States, the New York Times wrote in an article that China could be involved in the blackout of Mumbai's power grid.

Following the power cut across Mumbai, the Maharashtra government had set up a committee of inquiry, which submitted its report to the state government on Monday.

The report confirms the October blackout in Mumbai, which revealed the presence of 14 Trojan horse programs in the grid's operating system that destroyed computer programs. Mumbai Police Cyber ​​Cell has started further investigation.

State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh told reporters that a cyber attack had played a role in the October power cut.

A leading US company says China may have introduced system-destroying programs into the power grid system. "Our investigation has revealed that some foreign companies have been involved in this case."

What happened in Mumbai?

On October 13 last year, Mumbai and its environs were without power for several hours. The power outage had completely paralyzed India's economic hub. Trains were shut down, online exams had to be postponed, mobile services were shut down, stock exchanges were shut down and hospitals had to operate with emergency lights.

Some areas were without power for 12 hours. At the time, officials said the power outage was due to a technical glitch. But an inquiry committee was set up to investigate the incident.

And the cut completely paralyzed India's economic center. Trains shut down, stock exchanges shut down and hospitals have to operate with emergency lights

New York Times report

The New York Times reports that four months after the bloody clashes between China and India in the Gulwan Valley in June last year, a power grid failure occurred in Mumbai, 1,500 km from Ladakh.

The newspaper writes that there may be a 'deep connection' between tension and power cut. "This could be part of China's action against India's power grid to send a message to India that if it puts up a little more resistance on the border, there could be power outages across the country."

The paper quoted a study by Recorded Futures, a company that monitors Internet usage through government agencies and elements, as saying: "This study shows that Chinese malware entering system control has entered India's control system Which runs the power supply system throughout the country. The malware was also injected into the plant of a high voltage substation and coal-fired Ekb power plant.

The study found that not all Chinese malware was activated at any stage. Recorded Futures has not reviewed the code for the malware that was inserted into the nationwide power transmission system. The company had informed the Indian authorities about it. But the Indian government has not yet said what it found in its investigation.

China strongly denies

China has strongly condemned the New York Times report. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Delhi called the report "extremely irresponsible".

"As a strong supporter of cyber security, China opposes and takes action against all forms of cyber-attacks," he said. There is no room for speculation and false stories in the case of cyber attacks. It is very irresponsible to accuse someone without any evidence.

Indian officials are silent after this report of recorded futures. New York Times columnists Emily Schimal and David E. Sanger say it is possible that Indian experts have not yet reached the bottom of the malware code. But a former Indian diplomat said that if India accused China of infiltrating malware into India's power system, it would be to reduce border tensions between the Indian foreign minister and his Chinese counterpart. Diplomatic efforts will be complicated.

Meanwhile, the British news agency Reuters reported that Chinese government-backed hackers had targeted two leading Indian pharmaceutical companies making corona virus vaccines in recent weeks. According to the agency, Cypherma, a cyber intelligence firm based in Singapore and Tokyo, said that the Chinese hacking group APT-10, also known as Stone Panda, India, the world's largest biotech and vaccine maker, serum institute of India KIT systems and supply chain software were attacked.

The group says the main purpose of the attack was to gain an advantage over Indian pharmaceutical companies.