
Indian nuclear power plant’s network was hacked, officials confirm - doener
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/10/indian-nuclear-power-company-confirms-north-korean-malware-attack/
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sachdevap
The Indian nuclear program has a long history of being thwarted by
intelligence agencies. Not unexpected, considering the ramifications of
nuclear military power.

In the past, it was the scientists of the program who were targeted, and were
killed mysteriously. [0]

[0] [https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/qbepmd/why-are-indian-
aut...](https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/qbepmd/why-are-indian-authorities-
ignoring-the-deaths-of-nuclear-scientists)

~~~
throw23132123ww
Not just the nuclear program. The space programme at ISRO has also been
constantly been threatened by foreign powers, often acting with political
powers in India. The case of Nambi Narayanan is by far the most infamous,
where the Kerala State Govt. was actively conspiring (with what
circumstantially, and in Nambi's opinion, appears to be US) against Indian
state interests. Imagine the furore that would be caused if Texas were
conspiring with the USSR to overthrow the republic, but of course, in India,
the media remains mum for reasons unknown.

This shouldn't be surprising - Mitrokhin notes how Indian ministers were
falling over themselves to inform KGB/CIA for financial gain, and how Indira
Gandhi herself was on KGB payroll. The media (nor the elite) is very
different, as many recent scandals have shown.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambi_Narayanan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambi_Narayanan)

[https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-kgb-papers-it-
see...](https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-kgb-papers-it-seemed-like-
the-entire-country-was-for-sale/cid/1023636)

~~~
newyankee
It is well known the Indian communists have supported China over India in many
instances. It is really weird considering China is not communist at least in
economics any more.

~~~
gnode
> China is not communist at least in economics any more.

This depends on your interpretation. It could be argued that China's state
capitalism -- where the state is the dominant capitalist, and owns most of the
companies, property, and natural resources, is a form of communism, perhaps
the most effective realisation of communism seen so far.

True private ownership is very limited, as property rights are subordinate to
the will of the state. Land can not be owned as freehold, and is instead
leased from the state.

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notlukesky
I am suspicious of the North Korea attack as this attack requires a more
sophisticated attack method which automatically limits the suspects to US,
Russia, Israel, Germany, UK and France.

The CIA actively worked to undermine the Indian nuclear program over decades.
So would not be surprised if they still had the infrastructure in place to
carry out these attacks as well.

This attack had to have boots on the ground to pull off and some sort of
insider access as well.

~~~
bob1029
I had similar thoughts. Of course its NK, the most convenient nation state
boogeyman we have in 2019. They are barely on the internet, yet somehow there
is a large enough community of North Korean hackers such that their government
can form this fantastical "Lazarus" hacking group from their constituents?
Lazarus, which is purportedly capable of subverting nuclear power station
security, exfiltrating 100TB of data from Sony, et. al.? Surely that doesn't
require a huge range of unique talents which are best developed in an open and
free society... I am at a point where NK is largely a CIA front.

~~~
MiroF
Don't forget that East Germany and the Soviet Union routinely beat the West in
things like IMO competitions..

North Korea has a large population to draw upon, 25 million people.

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simula67
The nuclear controls appear to be air gapped :
[https://twitter.com/suryaceg/status/1189080266066649088](https://twitter.com/suryaceg/status/1189080266066649088)

~~~
Abishek_Muthian
Iran's control systems were supposedly air gapped, Stuxnet was still able to
deliver.

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zerg2k
Oh boy stuxnet all over again?

Definitely jumping “air gaps” is something that needs big player involvement.

~~~
big_chungus
"The investigation revealed that the infected PC belonged to a user who was
connected to the Internet connected network used for administrative purposes.
This is isolated from the critical internal network."

The article explicitly states that there was no air gap at play here.

