Cyber attack was in administrative block of Kudankulam not in nuclear plant: Jitendra Singh

Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that the cyber attack on Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu happened in the internet circuit of the administrative block and not in the plant.

The minister told the Lok Sabha in answer to a query about the cyber attack and its origins that there was a reliable mechanism of cybersecurity for nuclear plants and the critical internal networks were adequately secured.

"It happened in the internet circuit of the administrative block, not in the plant...That has been taken care of," Singh said.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) had last month accepted that there was a cyber attack on its system.

It said in a statement that the Identification of malware in NPCIL system is correct and the matter was conveyed by CERT-In when it was noticed by them on September 4.

It said the matter was immediately investigated by DAE (Department of Atomic Energy) specialists.

The statement said that investigation revealed that the infected computer belonged to a user who was in the internet-connected network for administrative purposes and plant systems were not affected by the malware.