Centre warns Odisha Govt about cyber attacks
The Centre has alerted the Odisha state government to take adequate steps against possible hacking of government websites by a group of Pakistan-based hackers. The Centre also advised certain steps the state government should take to check the menace.
The Union ministry of communications and information technology has sent the communique to the state IT department. “A group of Pakistan-based hackers are preparing to target the websites of major government and business organisations’. The attacks could be with the intention of denial of service, website intrusion or defacement,” the letter said.
“We received the letter and circulated it to all government departments here and in districts asking them to remain cautious,” IT secretary Madhusudan Padhi confirmed. “We are in touch with the NIC and Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC) to secure our websites. We have developed a protocol for better maintenance and security enhancement,” Padhi said.
Experts of Symantec, a software security provider that released its internet security threat report recently attributed the threat to lack of awareness and low adoption of security measures by government as well as private organizations.
Last year, the official websites of Utkal University and some other institutes were allegedly hacked. To check cyber terrorism, the state government recently formed a Crisis Management Group (CMP), headed by state home secretary. (Source – The Times of India)
