HYDERABAD: The state government has stepped up cybersecurity measures following national alerts about vulnerabilities in PHP-based applications. Upgrades to PHP version 8.3.36 have been completed in almost all 33 eOffice instances used for digital administration in the state, the Information Technology and Communications (ITE&C) department said.
A senior department official told TNIE that the Telangana Security Operations Centre (TSOC) issued a threat advisory to the departments concerned on October 23, directing them to review PHP-based applications, install security patches on priority and report compliance.
The measures followed advisories from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and instructions from the National Informatics Centre (NIC) to upgrade PHP in eOffice, a digital file management system. The TSOC also held coordination calls with departmental IT teams to ensure the measures were implemented.
While upgrades have been completed in almost all 33 eOffice instances, technical issues with the Secretariat instance are being addressed, the department said. “Preventive security measures and continuous monitoring are also underway for applications hosted at the State Data Centre. No cybersecurity incidents or service disruptions attributable to the vulnerabilities have been reported so far,” the official said.
The TSOC is coordinating with NIC and departmental IT teams to apply security patches and ensure uninterrupted delivery of digital government services.
Speaking to TNIE, Telangana IT Adviser Sai Krishna said the state was relying on regular security audits to detect and address cyber threats to government websites. Around 60,000 website instances across India have been identified as potentially vulnerable to critical PHP flaws. He said the government was upgrading its systems and addressing vulnerabilities as security updates became available.
The government is also in the process of appointing a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for every department to ensure accountability for cybersecurity, he said. The officers will serve as nodal points for handling security-related issues in their respective departments.
Sai Krishna added that the TSOC operates round the clock to monitor and mitigate cyber threats and respond to incidents in real time.
The ITE&C department recently held a day-long security workshop for government offices, he said.
CERT-In had flagged two critical PHP vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to execute malicious code remotely on affected servers, potentially compromising websites, databases and connected resources.