A British company that operates the electricity transmission grid has started replacing components supplied by a China-linked company, citing cybersecurity concerns.
National Grid decided to withdraw Nari Technology’s manufacturing from its transmission network in April this year, following a recommendation from the UK’s Signal Intelligence Cybersecurity Centre, the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing an official anonymous government.
The British network company itself declined to comment, citing confidentiality terms in the contracts.
“We take the security of our infrastructure very seriously and have mechanisms in place to protect our employees and critical assets so we can provide reliable and safe electric power transmission service,” National Grid said in a statement.
According to the FT, an employee at Nari subsidiary NR Electric UK said the company no longer had access to the sites where the supplied components were installed and that National Grid did not reveal the reason for terminating the contracts.
The newspaper also quotes another anonymous person as saying the decision affects NR Electric UK components that help manage and balance the electricity grid and minimize the risk of blackouts.
According to the FT, it is not yet clear whether the components remained in the electricity transmission network.
NR Electric UK, the British Signals Intelligence Agency and the Chinese embassy in London did not respond to Reuters’ out-of-hours request for comment on the incident.
Britain’s Energy Security Authority said it would not comment on individual business decisions by private organisations. “As a government agency, we work closely with the private sector to protect our national security,” the statement read.
2023-12-17 11:34:00
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