Amid rising cyber threats, Power Grid told officials over 270 substations lack ‘next-generation’ firewalls

The estimated cost of installing advanced firewalls — equipped with intrusion detection and prevention systems — across 273 substations is estimated at around Rs 119 crore.

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Power Grid has told the government this expenditure is “difficult to accommodate” under its operations and maintenance (O&M) budget due to “very stringent” regulatory limits, the documents reveal. The matter will be taken up at a meeting of the National Power Committee (NPC) in Shillong on May 16, where members will discuss a mechanism to book or recover the cost of these installations. The meeting will also deliberate on a broader roadmap for implementing firewalls across the national transmission infrastructure, as per the agenda. The NPC is constituted under the Union Ministry of Power, with a focus on ensuring uniformity in grid management practices across India. The absence of next-generation firewalls at substations poses cybersecurity risks to India’s critical infrastructure, especially against the backdrop of simmering tensions with Pakistan and the evolving capabilities of state and non-state actors. Next-generation firewalls integrate intrusion detection and prevention systems to monitor, detect, and block malicious traffic in real time, offering advanced threat protection beyond traditional firewalls.