China's Spying Threat

Chinese-made CCTVs across india could well be acting as the eyes and ears of Beijing. Experts raise concerns of national security, but existing laws and awareness are inadequate to deal with the threat

- Pradip R. Sagar

WHILE INDIAN AND CHINESE GENERALS WERE engaged in serious talks to end the worst military stand-off in 50 years between the two countries at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh in 2020-21, Beijing was suspected to have been playing a double game with New Delhi. In August 2021, almost 15 months after the bloody clash between troops that resulted in scores of deaths, cyber groups linked with the Chinese government were reported to have been engaged in a massive cyber-espionage operation. The intent was to target seven major electricity load dispatch centres (ELDCs) near the LAC in Ladakh to disrupt power supply to the region at will. The Indian government was aware of these attacks, which included a cyber-strike to disable the country’s national emergency response systems, and took pre-emptive action to thwart these groups successfully.

The Indian government did not confirm these cyber attacks till April 2022, when the US-based cyber security firm Recorded Future gave out details of the attack. The firm surmised that Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, often used in Close Circuit Television (CCTV) networks, and internet-operated Digital Video Recording (DVR) devices were compromised in the operation by the Chinese. The operation, they said, was an effort to collect information about India’s power infrastructure. Soon after, the Centre confirmed that Indian power plants near the LAC were indeed a target, with Union power minister R.K. Singh saying that two Chinese hacking attempts on electricity distribution centres in Ladakh in 2021 were repelled. Singh told press reporters, “These were probing attacks and they failed because our defence against such cyberattacks is strong.”