New Delhi: A reported cyber incident involving the Reliance Group has raised fresh concerns over cybersecurity after a ransomware group claimed to have published thousands of files allegedly linked to India's largest nuclear power project. While the company has acknowledged a partial data breach, there is no official confirmation that sensitive operational data from the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant has been compromised.

The development follows a Reuters report stating that the ransomware group World Leaks uploaded a large cache of files on the dark web, claiming they originated from Reliance Group systems. The files reportedly include documents related to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu, where Reliance Infrastructure has been involved in infrastructure work for Units 3 and 4.

Reliance Confirms Data Breach
In a statement to Reuters, Reliance Group confirmed that a partial breach occurred on a server hosted by Indian data centre provider Yotta. The company said the matter has been reported to the Government of India but did not specify what information, if any, had been compromised.

What Is Being Claimed?
According to Reuters, nearly 19,000 files labelled with the acronym "KKNP" have been available on the dark web since June 11, according to cybersecurity researcher Rakesh Krishnan, who first alerted the news agency.

The leaked material allegedly contains:

Engineering blueprints for ventilation and cooling systems
Layouts of a common control room
Vendor and supplier information
Equipment inspection reports
Insurance-related documents
Internal meeting records
However, Reuters said it could not independently verify the authenticity of these documents, and no Indian government agency has confirmed that the files are genuine.

Investigation Underway
The report stated that India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) are examining the incident.

Neither NPCIL nor the Department of Atomic Energy has officially confirmed that the nuclear plant's operational systems or security have been affected.

Yotta's Response
Data centre provider Yotta said it detected suspicious activity on a Reliance Infrastructure server on May 29 and immediately blocked the suspected ransomware execution.

The company added that it was informed by Reliance Infrastructure in late June about claims made by external threat actors regarding a possible data breach. Yotta said it is cooperating with the ongoing investigation but has not independently verified the claims made by the ransomware group.

Experts Warn of Potential Risks
Cybersecurity and nuclear security experts caution that if the alleged documents are genuine, they could potentially provide malicious actors with information about infrastructure layouts, suppliers and support systems.

However, experts also note that there is currently no evidence that the plant's reactor control systems or critical operational infrastructure have been compromised.

Previous Cybersecurity Incident
This is not the first time Kudankulam has been linked to a cybersecurity incident. In 2019, malware associated with a North Korean hacking group was detected on the plant's administrative network. At that time, NPCIL stated that the malware did not affect the plant's operational systems.

No Official Confirmation of Sensitive Nuclear Data Leak
As of now:

Reliance Group has confirmed only a partial data breach.
The authenticity of the alleged Kudankulam-related files remains unverified.
Indian authorities have not confirmed any compromise of the nuclear plant's critical systems.
Investigations by relevant agencies are ongoing.
The incident highlights the growing cybersecurity challenges facing critical infrastructure and underscores the importance of protecting sensitive industrial and government-linked information from increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks.