Blatant violation of cyber protocol

30/07/2020

India ranked second, behind Singapore, in terms of 'drive-by download' attack volume in the Asia-Pacific region in 2019, according to a report by Microsoft.'Drive-by download' attacks involve downloading malicious code onto an unsuspecting user's computer when they visit a website or fill up a form. The malicious code is then used by the attacker to steal passwords, financial information and intellectual property. While the volume of such attacks in the Asia-Pacific region declined 27 per cent from 2018, India moved from the 11th position to the second spot (with 140 per cent increase). Together with key financial hubs, Singapore and Hong Kong, India experienced an attack volume that was three times the regional and global average. According to the report, Asia-Pacific (APAC) continued to experience a higher-than-average encounter rate for malware and ransomware attacks-1.6 and 1.7 times higher than the rest of the world, respectively.
Shocking it may sound but it is a fact that the recent cyber attack on the Data Centre of the Power Development Department at Bemina in Srinagar was the outcome of the non-availability of sufficient security measures for its servers. Moreover, the Data Centre is being operated without Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) during the past nearly two years. All this has come to the fore during the initial investigation carried out by the Cyber Police Srinagar into the hacking of the Data Centre of the Power Development Department which took place in the wee hours of June 24, 2020. The initial investigation carried out by the Cyber Police Srinagar it has come to the fore that the Power Development Department had purchased computers and other allied material for its Data Centre at Srinagar from different companies and during the past quite long time there is no dedicated service provider for its Data Centre.
In blatant violation of the cyber protocol, almost all the servers of the Data Centre were found lacking firewalls, which otherwise are imperative to ensure security of the computer system and data and it is unimaginable as to how this major aspect of computer security system can be completely ignored by the concerned authorities of the department.
Had there been firewalls in the servers, the hackers would not have been succeeded in carrying out attack on the Data Centre so easily and it has also been noticed that the Data Centre is being operated by the Power Development Department without any Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) which otherwise is must to maintain the high efficiency of Data Centre and ensure maximum security.

Photo Gallery

BSE Sensex

NSE Nifty