KOCHI: AS the probe into the theft of hard disks from the under-construction aircraft carrier Vikrant at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) continues, Research and Analysis Wing former chief PK Hormis Tharakan on Friday said the incident was a major security breach and all angles should be investigated.
Asked about espionage angle being looked into, he said: “A detailed probe exploring all possible angles is needed.”
Abhijit Singh, a former naval officer who heads the maritime policy initiative at Observer Research Foundation, said a board of inquiry should be constituted.
“The incident is a matter of serious concern. A major slip has occurred and action should be taken against the persons responsible,” he said adding, “only if we knew what data has been stolen, we’ll be able to ascertain whether the incident has compromised any aspect of the project.”
Cybersecurity expert and Data Security Council of India member Manu P Zacharia said all data in the stolen hard disks could be easily extracted by an expert.
MoD experts analyse data
Sources said technical specialists at the Integrated Headquarters of Ministry of Defence have been analysing the data that could be on the stolen hard drives and how it would compromise the project’s confidentiality.
“Even if it’s password-protected, experts can crack it and access all contents in the hard drive,” said Zacharia.
Sources said technical specialists have been analysing the data that could be on the stolen hard drives.
Meanwhile, the police have started perusing duty chart of the workers who were assigned with tasks on the ship between August 29 and September 12.
As per the complaint lodged by the shipyard, it was during these days that the hard disks, RAM, CPU and processor were stolen.