Hyderabad: The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT- In) on Tuesday advised the TS State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC) and TS Transmission Corporation (Transco) to take precautionary measures to ensure security of the power system, after a security threat from a China-based threat group was assessed.
Security measures like blocking server IPs were communicated by CERT-In, apart from temporary disabling of the control function for remote operation of circuit Breakers from the SLDC and changing of credentials of all the users accessing the SLDC website.
The CERT-IN also recommended isolation of suspected equipment within the perimeter of the SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) control centre to ensure safety of the grid and satisfactory power supply to all consumers of the state. These steps were said to have been taken.
Earlier, a US firm, Recorded Future, claimed that a Chinese government-linked group of hackers had targeted critical power grid system through malware after which Union power minister R.K. Singh spoke with Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh.
Deshmukh said the US company’s report concerned the entire country not just Mumbai or Maharashtra. He said the massive power outage in Mumbai on October 12 last year may have been the result of a cyber sabotage as he cited a probe report of the state's cyber cell.
