Kudankulam nuclear power plant denies reports of cyber-attack

Rumours of a cyber-attack on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNP), India’s largest nuclear power station, were on Tuesday (October 29) turned down by officials who said that such an attack was not possible since the KKNP network was an isolated one.

“Any cyber-attack on the Nuclear Power Plant Control System is not possible,” read a statement issued by the KKNP. It clarified that the network of the power plant was not connected to internet or any outsider cyber network.

I didn't discover the intrusion, a 3rd party did. It contacted me & I notified National Cyber Security Coordinator on Sep 4 (date is crucial). The 3rd party then shared the IoCs with the NCSC's office over the proceeding days. Kaspersky reported it later, called it DTrack. https://t.co/9xi4CZrvd1

— Pukhraj Singh (@RungRage) October 29, 2019

The statement came after a Twitter user claimed that the power station’s domain controller access could have been compromised. According to unverified reports, the virus ‘DTrack RAT’ was said to have hit the KKNP network.

Reacting to the reports, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor sought an explanation from the government and said the issue seems to be “serious”.

This seems very serious. If a hostile power is able to conduct a cyber attack on our nuclear facilities, the implications for India's national security are unimaginable. The Government owes us an explanation. https://t.co/5NokFcQFWs

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 29, 2019

“This seems very serious. If a hostile power is able to conduct a cyber-attack on our nuclear facilities, the implications for India’s national security are unimaginable. The Government owes us an explanation,” he tweeted.