New Delhi: Power utilities in Telangana removed malware that they spotted after being alerted by the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), raising further suspicions about cyber intrusions by Chinese-backed hackers targeting India’s power grid system.According to news agency PTI, a heightened state of alertness would continue for some more days.“We noticed some malware. Immediately, we erased that. We have taken all the preventive steps. Absolutely, there is no problem,” a senior official told PTI.He said that CERT-In had communicated the information to the state power utilities two days ago.CERT-In has reported from a trusted source that China-based “Threat actor Group Command and Control” servers are trying to communicate with systems belonging to Telangana State Load Dispatch Centre (SLDC), TS Transco (Transmission Corporation of Telangana Ltd)) and advised taking suitable precautionary measures to ensure the security of the power system, official sources said.The SLDC monitors power supply in the state, while Transco is responsible for power transmission from the source of generation to the dispatch centres.TS Transco has taken various measures like blocking server IPs communicated by CERT-In and temporarily disabling control function for remote operation of circuit breakers from SLDC, they said.User credentials for all those accessing TS SLDC website were changed and suspected equipment within the perimeter of the SCADA (process control system) control centre were isolated to ensure the safety of the grid and satisfactory power supply to all consumers of the state, they said.The increased state of alertness would continue for some days, the official said, adding, “not only Telangana, for that matter, but every state also has to be careful.”A Times of India report had said that the malware targeted 40 substations in Telangana. The state was among the seven states targeted by Chinese hackers, who tried to communicate with the power systems, TS Transco chairman and managing director D. Prabhakar Rao told the newspaper.A report released by the US-based cybersecurity firm Recorded Future earlier this week suggested that the power outage in Mumbai in October last year was the result of intrusions by the Chinese state-backed hacker group RedEcho. The report said that as tensions escalated between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, there was increased hacking activity targeting India’s grid system.The power outage in Beijing may have been timed as a ‘show of force’ warning India of what could happen if it pursued its border claims vigorously, the report suggested.While the power ministry said that the functionality of the Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) was not affected by foreign cyberattacks, Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh said that the power outage in Mumbai was the result of ‘sabotage’. He said that unaccounted data may have been transferred to the MSEB’s (state electricity board) server from a foreign server, but did not name the country from where the data may have been transferred.The Chinese government denied any role in the alleged intrusions.