13 per cent rise in cyber violations in 2014-16 sets alarm bells ringing

New Delhi: There has been an alarming 13 per cent rise in cyber security violations of official as well as companies’ websites in the country between 2014 and 2016. Official sources have acknowledged that there have been repeated attempts to penetrate cyber networks operating in Government spheres, and while these have been originating from several nations, notable among them are Pakistan and China.

According to information available with this newspaper, there were 44,679 hacking incidents reported in 2014, which increased by 13 per cent to 50,362 in 2016. Till November 2017, 40,054 incidents of hacking and cyber security violations had been reported in the country.

In fact compared to 2014, such incidents had witnessed an increase of a significant 10 per cent in 2015 itself. There were a total 49,455 instances of cyber security violations reported in 2015 over the corresponding year, official sources said.

These further increased to 50,362 in 2016. And though till November 2017, only 40,054 such incidents had been reported, sources within the government pointed out that several measures are being taken on a regular basis to keep cyber agencies on alert regarding such attacks and to reduce their recurrence.

Some major types of cyber attacks which have been witnessed by Government on official websites as well as on those maintained by private entities include scanning or probing websites, intrusion or defacement, ransomware and phising.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) which tracks such incidents of cyber attacks, however does not maintain any data related to losses incurred by Indian companies owing to such violations.

However, industry watchers said that considering the fact that there has been an increase in the number of such attacks within the past four years, losses faced by companies in the country could be in thousands of crores of rupees.

CERT-In on its part issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and counter measures to protect computers on regular basis.

It also conducts mock drills to enable assessment of cyber security preparedness in government as well as in other critical sectors, sources in the know pointed out.