Government should spend some money on Cyber security

 Hamza and Haroon behind CBI’s website attack

VIJAY MUKHI



When I spoke to Vijay Mukhi, Cyber Crime Expert, he said, “First of all, the government should spend some money on the Cyber security project. The government is planning to spend a whopping Rs. 10,000 crore on cyber security. Being the employees, we can only make requests and it is the government who should provide the facilities. Where as Bombay Stock Exchange can be hacked if security is not provided on urgent basis. Indian hackers can prove to be best employees and if the government approves this policy, then India will be secured.”

E xposing India's weakness in information technology, the premier

investigative agency, Central Bureau of Investigation has failed to restart its hacked official website even after more than 48 hours. The CBI website (http://cbi.nic.in/), which was hacked by Pakistani hackers, remained offline on Monday, Dec 6. The failure indicates the credibility of Indian IT sector, which is considered as one of the leading exporter of 'brainees' to the Western countries. The official website of CBI was hacked on Friday, 3 Dec night by unknown hackers, who claimed themselves as "Pakistan Cyber Army". The hackers infiltrated to the root level and left a note saying that the attack was a response to the hacking of Pakistan websites by Indian hackers.The note left by Pakistan hackers read, "This attempt is in response to the Pakistani websites hacked by 'Indian Cyber Army'. We told u before too...we are sleeping but not dead". The note ended with "Pakistan Zindabad." Later on Saturday, CBI officials released a statement describing that they were working hard to fix the issue and also registered a case under Information Technology Act against 'unknown' hackers.

In a move to check the threat of cyber crimes, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) on Monday, Nov 22. According to the new MoU, CBI and NASSCOM will share the experiences on controlling cyber crime. Also, Nasscom and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) will act as knowledge partners for the CBI in the area of cyber security. "Cyber security is emerging as a major corporate and government concern worldwide. This partnership will enable Nasscom to play the role of a facilitator and bring the latest technological developments to the CBI," said Nasscom President Som Mittal. "Cyber crime detection and investigation are crucial to both the government and private sector due to its implications for security and economy. The government and law enforcement agencies on the one hand and the private sector led by the IT companies on the other can come together and forge a collaboration to fight this threat," CBI Director Ashwani Kumar said.

In a conversation with the Pakistani hackers via email, they said that they support peace but cannot tolerate more defacement. Hence, Indians have to face the music.  “We never hack to bring some individual down. Always believe that Pakistan Cyber Army came into existence to earn respect and we always respect all of you. Truth is that we always retaliate but Indian kids have got too much attitude and fake patriotic sense. Let's see where it ends I really feel sorry for you. I hope you will separate yourself from people like these. Facebook hackers can't do anything except letting whole world know that they are hackers. Pakistan kids and Indian kids are useless.”

"This is not a mere hacking. It's an act of cyber terrorism," said cyber lawyer Pawan Duggal.

Cyber experts say defacement of websites happens quite regularly, but given that a high profile government website has been hacked, cyber security procedures need to be looked into.  

Rajat Khare, a cyber security expert said, "The site was never audited. There is a government policy, that if you host a government site it needs to be audited. But the site was running for over a year."

Kapil Sibal, the Minister for Science and Technology has promised to look into the matter.Experts hope it was just defacement and no data has been stolen. The server that hosts the website is different from the one that manages the e-mail through which confidential correspondence takes place. The CBI has registered a case against unknown persons with its cyber-crime cell and the National Informatics Centre that maintains most government websites is probing the case. If rumours are to be believed then the next attack could be on the Bombay Stock Exchange. If this happens, then it would be a major loss to the entire nation.