India foils China hackers' bid to disrupt power grid

New Delhi: Chinese state-sponsored hackers targeted Indian electricity distribution centres near Ladakh over the last eight months, a report by private intelligence firm Recorded Future said on Wednesday, in a new potential flashpoint following a protracted military standoff between the two countries in the region.

The government said the attacks were not successful. ''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," the group said.

The attacks took place between August last year and March, sources said. The investigation found the data passing in and out of Indian Load Despatch Centres to the Chinese state-sponsored command and control servers spread across the world, they said.