China-backed hackers waged cyberattacks on Indian power grid system near Ladakh: Report

A threat intelligence firm has claimed that China-backed state hackers have been attacking the Indian power grid system near Ladakh in recent months.

A report released by Recorded Future on Wednesday claimed that the attacks are part of China’s cyber-espionage battle against India, reports Bloomberg.

The report further stated that at least seven “load dispatch” centres located near the India-China border in Ladakh have been under Chinese surveillance for several months.

“In recent months, we observed likely network intrusions targeting at least seven Indian State Load Despatch Centres (SLDCs) responsible for carrying out real-time operations for grid control and electricity dispatch within these respective states. Notably, this targeting has been geographically concentrated, with the identified SLDCs located in North India, in proximity to the disputed India-China border in Ladakh," Recorded Future said in its report.

The firm said that the Indian government has been alerted of their findings before publishing the report.

One of the hacking groups, RedEcho, which targeted one of the load dispatch centres previously, shares a “strong overlap” with a hacking group that US has tied to the Chinese government, the report noted.

“The prolonged targeting of Indian power grid assets by Chinese state-linked groups offers limited economic espionage or traditional intelligence gathering opportunities,” the Recorded Future report states.

“We believe this is instead likely intended to enable information gathering surrounding critical infrastructure and/or pre-positioning for future activity.”

There have been concerns within the Indian establishment on the capability of the Chinese government to wage a cyber war.

This was repeatedly highlighted by the former Chief of Defence Staff late Bipin Rawat who pointed out gaps between the countries with regards to technology while adding that India has been catching up.

"We know that China is capable of launching cyberattacks on us and that it can disrupt a large amount of our systems. What we are trying to do is to create a system which would ensure cyber defence," he said in April last year.

He said the aim has been to create firewalls to deal with the cyberattacks and that the issue is being addressed in a "serious way".

(With inputs from agencies)