The report by private intelligence firm Recorded Future Inc. has said, that suspected state-sponsored Chinese hackers have targeted electricity distribution centres near Ladakh, linking the use of the trojan ShadowPad and hacking groups to the People’s Liberation Army and the Chinese Ministry of State Security. Previous attempts by Chinese hackers were made to target electricity distribution centres near Ladakh but were unsuccessful.
Last year the power outage forced the shutdown of Mumbai’s local trains and its stock exchange. Reports of Chinese hacking in recent months indicate that Beijing’s targeting of India continues unabated. India must remain alert as Chinese hackers could be pre-positioning malware for a future deadly attack on Indian systems. Gaining access and insight into Indian government departments and organisations will therefore likely remain of paramount interest to Chinese state-sponsored actors for the foreseeable future, as cyber operations play a key role in gathering intelligence on military technology or national security matters, in addition to political and foreign relation developments. India needs to be a step ahead in terms of protecting data in cloud, both private as well as public.
