By Express News Service
VIJAYAWADA: The worldwide WannaCry ransomware hacker attack has reportedly affected about 25 per cent of the computer network of the Andhra Pradesh police department on Saturday. However, senior officials said damage was minimized to 18 standalone systems.
According to sources, computers using the Windows XP operating system were most affected by the cyber attack.
However, critical data in almost all police stations was secured and no great damage was done. As a precautionary measure, the department has consulted the National Cyber Security Cell in Delhi, officials said.
Alerted by global reports of the ransomware attack, the police department of Andhra Pradesh secured its computers and backed up vital information.
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When contacted, IG (technical Services) E Damoar said: “Our systems are safe and our data secure. None of our systems got hacked.”
“When we received the alert, we took precautionary measures on the advice of the National Cyber Security Cell. Our data including that stored in the CCTN systems is safe. Our precautions ensured that there will be no problem with release of results of police constable recruitment that took place on Friday,” Damodar explained.
Director-general of police N Sambasiva Rao said that when some systems were found to be encountering problems, they were asked to be unplugged as a precautionary measure.
Tirupati Urban superintendent of police R Vijayalakshmi said only eight systems in her police precinct had problems. No valuable data was lost. “We are rebooting those systems. As a precaution, we have stopped taking FIRs online. All other regular work is going on as usual,” she clarified.
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