Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:
(a) whether a Chinese state-sponsored group Red Echo has used malware techniques to gain a foothold in nearly a dozen critical nodes across the Indian power generation/transmission infrastructure, along with transmission substation and a coal-fired power plant and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
(b) whether the blackout in Mumbai on October 12, 2020 was a consequence of Chinese malware, Shadowpad and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
(c) whether India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) received any evidence/findings about this from the cyber threat analysis group Recorded Future and if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government has initiated any formal investigation into this cyber attack and if so, the details and the outcome thereof;
(e) whether the aforementioned malware has attacked any other critical infrastructure of the country and if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard;
(f) the manner in which the Government plans to retaliate against such sophisticated cyber attacks; and
(g) whether the Government proposes to replace the existing Chinese made hardware in India’s critical infrastructure in view of these cyber attacks and if so, the details thereof?