Home
Internet
Internet News
Cyber Sabotage Could Have Cause 2020 Mumbai Power Outage, Maharashtra Minister Says

Cyber Sabotage Could Have Cause 2020 Mumbai Power Outage, Maharashtra Minister Says

Mumbai police investigating further after a report pointed to possible evidence of 14 Trojan horse programmes incorporated in the city's power system.

By Reuters | Updated: 2 March 2021 10:27 IST

Cyber Sabotage Could Have Cause 2020 Mumbai Power Outage, Maharashtra Minister Says

Woman and her daughter light candle inside house after power outage in Mumbai, India, October 12, 2020

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Highlights

A Chinese embassy spokesperson denied the allegations
Grid failure affected Mumbai and lasted for more than 12 hours in October
Millions were left without power, trains were stranded

A power failure that crippled India's financial capital of Mumbai in western Maharashtra state last year could have been a case of cyber sabotage, a local minister said on Monday, as China denied a report that it was behind the outage.

Mumbai police were investigating further after a preliminary report pointed to possible evidence of 14 "Trojan horse" programmes incorporated in the city's power system, Anil Deshmukh, a minister for Maharashtra state, told a news conference.

Deshmukh was speaking a day after a New York Times report said that the power outage on October 12 last year was part of a Chinese cyber campaign against India, even as the two countries were locked in a fierce border battle.

Chinese Hackers Target Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech: Cyfirma

A Chinese embassy spokesperson denied the allegations in the New York Times report, in response to request for comment from Reuters.

"Speculation & fabrication have no role to play on the issue of cyber attacks. Highly irresponsible to accuse a particular party with no sufficient evidence around," a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India tweeted late Monday in response to Reuters' request for comments.

Millions were left without power, trains were stranded and online college exams and mobile telephone services collapsed after a grid failure that affected all of Mumbai and lasted for more than 12 hours in some parts of the city.

SolarWinds Hack Was 'Largest and Most Sophisticated Attack' Ever: Microsoft

At the time, local authorities said the failure was caused due to "technical problems", but an inquiry was ordered into the incident.

"The preliminary report was handed over to the power ministry. We will investigate it further," Deshmukh said at Monday's news conference.

Relations between nuclear-armed neighbours China and India soured last June when 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a Himalayan border fight. Recent talks have eased tension.

Is Samsung Galaxy F62 the best phone under Rs. 25,000? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.