Government issues SOP for employees against cyber attacks

As the year 2022 is coming towards an end and 2023 is approaching, cyber criminals are geared towards another disaster with the newer version of distributed -denial-of-service (DDoS) attack targeting a secure national data network. All it seems the waiting time has arrived, which was much expected.

The government has decided to step up its vigilance in response to China's repeated attempts at cyber warfare. Employees across ministries and public sector units are being asked to adhere to a standard operating protocol, which includes basic hygiene like turning off computers, signing out of emails, and updating passwords. The irresponsible behaviour by stakeholders and employees often exposes them to risks.

In recent months, there have been a number of cyberattacks on the Indian power grid and more recently the AIIMS cyberattack, which have been foiled by Indian authorities. Most of these attacks are believed to have been carried out by Chinese hackers who operate as "sleeper cells" using the computers of Indian users.

As per the report, official sources revealed that the AIIMS cyberattack is believed to have been the result of one employee not taking these precautions. Workers frequently fail to log off of their computers or sign out of their emails, and we suspect that this may have happened at AIIMS as well. It was a sophisticated ransomware attack. We have to wait for the outcome of CERTin and NIA (National Investigation Agency) before we come to any conclusion as to who is behind the ransomware attack.

Facing repeated cyberattack attempts from China, the government has decided to tighten its vigil. The government has a standard operating procedure in place to deal with these attacks, but has now decided to enforce it more strictly, and is considering action against employees who fail to follow it. A report from Norton says that India had faced over 18 million cyber threats during the first quarter of 2022.

A report from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has estimated a 51% increase in ransomware incidents during the first half of 2022. While most attacks have been on data centres, the IT sector, and manufacturing and Banking sector, critical infrastructure including oil and gas, transport and Power grid there have been multiple cyberattacks.

Indian agencies have put in place multiple firewalls to protect against cyberattacks, but the actions of employees and stakeholders can still leave them vulnerable.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA