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The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli district
Highlights
Dark web ransomware leak targets India’s largest nuclear power plant
Ransomware group World Leaks exposed 858,000 files from Reliance
Reliance confirmed a 'partial breach' from a Yotta server
- A large number of files allegedly from India's largest nuclear plant, the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP), have been leaked on the dark web.
- This has sparked concerns about potentially sensitive information reaching the wrong hands, as the Tamil Nadu-based power plant is central to the PM Modi government's atomic energy plans.
- Developed jointly with Russia, it uses VVER-1000 Light Water Reactors, which have higher power caps than the indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), allowing for more output.
- While two of its units, producing 1000 megawatts (MW) each are currently operational, four more such units will be completed by 2027, of which the first two will be built by Reliance Group subsidiary Reliance Infrastructure.
- About 8,58,000 files were posted on the dark web by ransomware group World Leaks, which it claimed were from the Reliance Group
- 19,000 of these files appeared to be highly sensitive, the report added, noting that the documents were dated between 2016 and 2025, and reportedly featured blueprints, supplier details, meeting and inspection records, equipment reviews and insurance policies.
- It is also alleged that World Leaks may have been denied a ransom payment, as it usually first uses the corporate data as ransom to try obtaining huge sums of money to prevent the leak.
- How did Reliance respond? They admitted to Reuters that a "partial breach" of its data had taken place from a server hosted by Yotta, athird-party Indian data centre service provider, and that the government has been informed about the incident.
- However, it did not disclose what files had been leaked.
- The data breach could pose a "serious" risk to the safety of the plant, says Nickolas Roth, a senior director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which advises governments and monitors nuclear security in various countries.
- India's main cybersecurity agency—the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)—is looking into the incident, the report added, citing a source in the know.
- However, it is yet to be seen how the data leak of 8,58,000 will affect the government's plans for the nuclear reactor.
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