Britain’s National Grid Drops China-Based Supplier Over Cyber Security Fears: FT

Britain’s National Grid has started removing components supplied by a unit of China-backed Nari Technology from the electricity transmission network over cyber security fears, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The decision came in April after the utility sought advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of the nation’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ, the newspaper quoted a Whitehall official as saying.

An employee at the Nari subsidiary NR Electric UK said the company no longer had access to sites where the components were installed and that National Grid did not disclose a reason for terminating the contracts, the FT said.

It quoted another person it did not name as saying the decision was based on NR Electric UK components that help control and balance the grid and minimize the risk of blackouts.

It was unclear whether the components remained in the electricity transmission network, the report said.

NR Electric UK, National Grid, GCHQ, Britain’s energy security department and the Chinese Embassy in London did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside business hours.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; editing by William Mallard)