India Says Nuclear Power Plant Was Affected by Computer Malware

(Bloomberg) -- Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd., the country's monopoly atomic power producer, said malware infected a computer network used for administrative functions at one of its nuclear installations, while leaving core plant systems unaffected.

The matter was conveyed to the company by state-run Indian Computer Emergency Response Team in September, triggering an immediate investigation by specialists at the Department of Atomic Energy, NPCIL said in a statement posted on its website yesterday.

An infected computer belonging to a user spread the malware to the internet-connected network used for administrative purposes, the company said.

“This is isolated from the critical internal network,” NPCIL said, without identifying the plant that was affected by the malware. “The networks are being continuously monitored.”

The statement followed tweets by cyber-security analyst Pukhraj Singh saying he had warned the government on Sept. 3 about a cyberattack on NPCIL's Kudankulam power plant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi at rsingh133@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Abhay Singh, Pradeep Kurup

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