Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
Related Articles
Officials deny that the power unit site was hacked Hours after a cybersecurity expert claimed on Twitter that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant’s (KKNPP) domain controller-level access could have been compromised, officials categorically denied it on Tuesday. KKNPP Site Director Sanjay Kumar said the totally isolated network of KKNPP could not be accessed by any outside network from any part of the globe. Hence, there was no question of it being hacked. Asked if power generation was stopped last week in the second reactor due to a possible compromise, Mr. Kumar said it was purely due to the malfunctioning of a mechanical device in the turbine section, and not due to any electronic complication. “While the first reactor of KKNPP is generating 1,000 Mwe power, the capacity of the Russian supplied VVER reactor, the second unit is producing 670 Mwe electricity [as on Tuesday morning],” Mr. Kumar said. A press release from the plant information officer also said a cyberattack was not possible as the control systems are not linked to outside network on Internet. On Monday night, Pukhraj Singh, an independent expert on cyber security, tweeted that domain controller-level access at the plant had been breached. “Extremely mission-critical targets were hit,” he said. However, a senior-most official of KKNPP told The Hindu that at the isolated networking system of the KKNPP Universal Serial Buses (USB), compact discs, etc., could not be used as these ports had been deactivated in all the systems on the KKNPP premises. It could not be accessed by any of the networks from any part of the world. Moreover, all the systems had been loaded with home-grown firewalls to check the hackers’ attempts, if any. The official revealed that a cyber security audit was conducted recently after a futile attempt to hack the NPCIL’s isolated network was made.
Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/no-cyberattack-on-kudankulam-plant/article29827869.ece
