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Chinese state-supported hackers introduced Chinese malware into nearly a dozen power utility companies of India as a part of its cyber campaign. The malware was discovered by Recorded Future, a US-based cybersecurity company.
The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited(NTPC), India’s largest power generation company was among the many companies targeted. According to the Indian National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre’s (NCIIPC) definition, all 12 organizations would qualify as critical infrastructure.
The report read, “In the lead-up to the May 2020 skirmishes, we observed a noticeable increase in the provisioning of PlugX malware C2 infrastructure, much of which was subsequently used in intrusion activity targeting Indian organizations. The PlugX activity included the targeting of multiple Indian governments, public sector, and defence organizations from at least May 2020.” PlugX malware is heavily used by Chinese hackers.
According to reports the 2-hour power outage in Mumbai on October 13, 2020, was also caused by the insertion of malware in a load dispatch centre at Padgha.
The hackers’ groups also tried to target various defence and government organizations of India,