Nearly 19,000 files linked to India's largest nuclear power project at Kudankulam have surfaced on the dark web following a ransomware attack on systems belonging to Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, one of the project's contractors, raising concerns over cybersecurity risks to critical infrastructure,
according to a Reuters report.
The leaked files, allegedly published by the ransomware group World Leaks, include purported engineering blueprints, supplier details, inspection records and insurance documents related to the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu. Reuters reported that it reviewed the documents but could not independently verify their authenticity.
Reliance Infrastructure, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group, acknowledged that there had been a 'partial breach' of its data hosted on servers operated by third-party data centre provider Yotta Data Services Pvt Ltd. However, the company did not disclose the exact nature or extent of the compromised information.
According to Reuters, the Kudankulam-related documents form part of a much larger cache of about 858,000 files that World Leaks claims to have stolen from the Reliance ADA group. Nearly 19,000 of those files, totalling about 14.3GB, relate specifically to the Kudankulam project and have reportedly been available online since 11 June 2026.
Reliance Infrastructure secured a contract in 2018 to design and build support infrastructure for unit-3 and unit-4 of the Kudankulam nuclear power project. The two reactors, which remain under construction, are expected to become operational by 2027 and will, together, add 2,000MW (megawatt) of generating capacity.
Reuters reported that the leaked documents span the period from 2016 to mid-2025 and include what appear to be blueprints for ventilation and cooling systems, floor layouts of a common control room, vendor proposals, approved supplier lists, equipment inspection records and insurance policies.
One document reportedly indicates that Reliance Infrastructure and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) had obtained an insurance policy providing up to US$112mn (million) in coverage in the event that units 3 or 4 suffered a terrorist attack.
Following publication of the Reuters report, NPCIL clarified that the information circulating in the public domain pertains only to common service facilities and does not relate to nuclear safety or nuclear security systems.
Reuters reported that the leaked documents do not appear to involve the reactors' core systems, which are supplied by Russia's state-owned Rosatom.
NPCIL has been coordinating with Reliance Infrastructure regarding the breach, while the Indian computer emergency response team (CERT-In) has launched an investigation into the incident, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. India's department of atomic energy declined to comment, while CERT-In and the prime minister's office (PMO) did not respond to Reuters' queries.
Yotta Data Services told Reuters that it detected suspicious activity on a server belonging to Reliance Infrastructure on 29 May 2026 and immediately terminated the activity, preventing what it believed was an attempted ransomware execution.
The company said Reliance Infrastructure informed it only at the end of June that external threat actors were claiming to have breached its data. Yotta added that it has not independently verified those claims but has shared the findings of its technical investigation with Reliance Infrastructure and is assisting the ongoing probe.
Although the leaked documents do not appear to expose sensitive reactor systems, nuclear security experts told Reuters that such information could still be valuable to hostile actors.
Nickolas Roth, senior director at the nuclear threat initiative, told the news agency that the files could potentially reveal not only who has access to the project but also the systems to which that access extends.
"The exposure of such data could show an adversary not just who has access to the project but which systems that access reaches," Mr Roth told Reuters.
Reuters also noted that India ranked third globally in the number of data breaches last year, with about 28.9mn accounts compromised, according to cybersecurity firm Surfshark.
A separate study by the Data Security Council of India and cybersecurity company Seqrite found that 73% of surveyed organisations were unaware whether they had ever been attacked, while 57% lacked basic cyber hygiene practices.
The incident marks the second cyber-related episode involving the Kudankulam project. In 2019, malware linked to a North Korean hacking group was detected on the plant's administrative network, although NPCIL had then stated that plant operations and critical systems were unaffected.
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