The threat analyst who alerted Indian government officials about a highly publicized threat discusses being at the center of a confusing viral news cycle
This week a report of hackers gaining access to an Indian nuclear power plant's computer network led to alarm, confusion, and denial before officials admitted the hack took place. The threat analyst who reported the issue experienced a unique vantage point in the middle of that furious cybersecurity news cycle.
Threat analyst Pukhraj Singh (pictured) reported the breach of the domain controller at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant to India's National Cyber Security Coordinator on Sept. 3, and follow-up emails were exchanged. But for nearly two months the government did not reveal the incident. When Singh disclosed the attack on Twitter on Oct. 28, the government appeared to deny it before confirming the attack a day later.
The hack was tied to North Korea, and is comparable to a Russian hack of American facilities disclosed last year by the U.S. government. Given the impact of state-sponsored attacks of power grids and utilities, the Indian government’s confusing response was central to a swirl of conflicting news reports and social media. In the eye of the storm was Singh, the former government cybersecurity analyst who brought the hack forward to the government and the public. (Singh emphasizes that he did not discover the intrusion, but helped threat researchers who did not ..
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