Cyber attack at Kudankulam; critical system safe

NEW DELHI: A part of a network in India’s largest civil nuclear facility, the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu, was breached earlier this year, according to an official and a cyber security expert involved in the detection of a hack that is feared to have originated on foreign soil.

The attack, both these people told HT, did not compromise critical systems — which are contained in an isolated network to create an “air gap” — linked to the functioning of the plant, but gained access to the plant’s administrative network.

“Domain controller-level access [gained] at Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. The government was notified way back,” said cyber security professional Pukhraj Singh, who in a series of tweets on Monday and Tuesday contended that he was first alerted by a “third party” that discovered the hack and had in turn alerted the National Cyber Security Coordinator on September 3.

“And there was another target way more serious,” he told HT, without giving more details.

KNPP released a statement on Tuesday denying that sensitive systems were compromised. “KNPP and other Indian nuclear power plants are not connected to outside cyber network and internet. Any cyber attack on the Nuclear Power Plant Control System is not possible,” it said.

Singh, who has worked with government agencies in the past, clarified after the statement was issued that the attack was on an administrative network and not the operational one.

NEW DELHI: A thick, smoky haze smothered the national capital on Tuesday as air pollution breached “severe” levels for the first time this season, a sharp deterioration caused by a double whammy of toxic fumes left over from illegal Diwali fireworks and a big spike in farm fires in neighbouring states.

Two days after thousands in the national capital defied restrictions to use banned firecrackers, Delhi’s overall air quality index (AQI) was 400 in the daily 4pm bulletin by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), up from Monday’s 368. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.

By 11pm, the AQI climbed to 421 as lower temperatures led heavy pollutants to sink closer to the ground.

Pollution levels in Ghaziabad (446), Noida (439) and Greater Noida (428) were much worse. Gurugram and Faridabad were in the “very poor” category at 368 and 387 respectively, as per the four 4pm bulletin.

On Diwali night, several people across the National Capital Region (NCR) flouted the Supreme Court-enforced twohour limit for bursting crackers. The apex court had also ordered