BENGALURU: The state of India’s cybersecurity has come to the fore with the recent hacking of government websites after surgical strikes in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Even as private companies and government departments are making attempts to strengthen their digital security, experts say it is high time the state and the Union government took note of the issue.
While on one hand organisations face the threat of their data being compromised, on the other hand, emails spreading false information or propaganda about conflict across the border are being circulated. Such hacking techniques appear to be an attempt at inducing panic, but what does it mean for an individual using the internet?
Even if an individual’s data is hacked, it might not be of particular interest to hackers. Experts, however, say that an individual may be used as a catalyst for a larger cyber attacks for data exploitation.
“Indian security agencies, corporates and public who use internet must be mindful of a few aspects — their devices can be infected and used as a bot for large-scale Distributed Denial of Service attacks if the situation escalates. It is worrying when it comes to protecting our networks that manage critical infrastructure like power grid, banks and financial firms,” said Raj Kannan, a cybersecurity expert.
Following incidents of hacking after the surgical strikes, private companies are now relooking at their cybersecurity details.
“An alert has been passed on to institutions and organisations by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team which routinely updates the status,” a source from the team said.
A source from CID cyber wing said, “Following the surgical strikes, Pakistan hackers who hacked a few websites defaced it. In retaliation, Indian hackers also locked many Pakistani websites. Now this seems to have escalated as neither Indian nor Pakistan hackers are stopping. They follow a rule that if somebody starts the attack, the retaliations end only when the hacker who started stops. This may affect websites of individuals, government organisations, IT companies and other sectors. The objective of hackers in both countries is to humiliate each other and nothing else. They just want to prove that they are technologically superior.”
State moots Centre for Excellence in Cyber Security
Talking about the need to strengthen cybersecurity, Priyank M Kharge, Minister of IT, BT and Tourism, said, “Cyber security is not for us to think about only in times of conflict but it requires constant vigil. We are proposing a Centre for Excellence in Cyber Security and we are looking at strengthening in-house expertise in the area. This has been discussed with the Home Minister who is keen on the initiative. Two rounds of meetings have already taken place.”
The minister said government officials should actively begin using official email IDs. “In several instances, officials maintain a private ID with a username indicating their designation, department. This mail ID goes unused when they are transferred to another department. Sharing government information over private mail IDs has more risk of data being compromised.”