Indian Army site hacked: Does India have the right attitude to tackle cyber-crime?

Indian army officers are in a state of panic after their Principal Comptroller of Defence Accounts (Officers) (PCDAO) website was reportedly hacked late last month. Officers are unable to access their salary details on the website and fear that vital and sensitive data related to officers’ service and financial details may have been stolen. According to a report by Times of India, most officers are very upset as the PCDAO and army brass, along with the defence ministry are aware of the situation, but have taken no measures to restore the website. The report added that, the MoD (Ministry of Defence Government of India) and the Army have started an investigation into the hacking but state that the issue has been kept discreet fearing an uproar among officers. The PCDAO website includes personal details of the officers, such as their exact areas of posting, the units they belong to, PAN card numbers and bank account details along with many other things. Apart from sensitive information, the website is also a crucial hub for the officer’s finances as he/she can access information on their salary, along with details including leave travel allowance, receipt of claims along with proof of IT returns. The website is also used by officers to apply for PF withdrawals. This would be just one instance out of the umpteen attacks faced by users in the country. But even after the wide spread, there is very little awareness about how to tackle it. There have been a number of instances in the country when secured websites have been targeted. In the past, the hacker group  Anonymous had targeted MTNL and had taken their site down. Also, unidentified hackers had earlier attempted to break into different websites of the Andhra Pradesh government, even as a security audit was being conducted at the State Data Centre. Back in the day, the BJP website was reportedly hacked for not protesting against their opposition party, Congress, on the topic of Internet censorship. The rate at which cyber crime is growing worldwide, may countries are beginning to work towards strengthening their online security. Let us take a look at how India deals with this crisis. WHAT MEASURES HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY THE INDIAN GOVT? Where exactly does India rank in terms of cyber security? Does it have what it takes to tackle cyber crime?  It was not until a few years back that people began to understand the severity of a cyber attack. Today, the Indian Government understands that cyber security is a universal concern and that they will need to work heavily towards curbing this online crime. Reacting to this situation, a recent report by  Business Today states that PM Narendra Modi has red-flagged cyber security as an issue of global concern and strongly urges the IT industry to find innovate solutions to tackle the menace. Modi added: “The whole world is concerned. Since I have become the Prime Minister, I have met around 50 world and political leaders and out of that, almost 25-30 have said cyber security is a concern.” The PM also said that if security is not provided, people will be scared of using their mobile phones fearing their privacy and data may be compromised. Recently, the Government in India had also approved the proposal moved by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) to ban use of popular email services like Gmail and Yahoo! in official communication to safeguard critical and sensitive government data. A budget of Rs 100 crore has been allocated for the project, which includes expanding infrastructure and ramping up security of servers that will be used to store the mails. The move comes amid concerns about rising cyber crime and hacking incidents. The above example proves that India, in fact, is making several attempts to save itself from a cyber attack. But will these simple steps stop or prevent these attacks? Do we have enough skilled personnel to ensure that people are at peace and feel secure about their data? CYBER SECURITY - WHERE DOES INDIA RANK? According to a report, despite being an IT super power, India had under 600 cyber security experts till 2013. However, Cisco had issued a report saying that India needed  at least 4 lakh cyber security experts. Cyber attacks and threats on government organisations in India saw an  increase of 136% in just 2013 itself. Given how cyber warfare has taken off since then, this number will surely be higher now. The report had also pointed out on how the number of cyber attacks have increased exponentially in the last 10 years. From a mere 23 reported cases in 2009 to around 96,383 cases reported till September 2014. Unfortunately, cyber threats and cyber attacks are on the rise as we speak. It is not only in India, but countries where governments take preventive measures to secure their data, have also had their data violated. One of the dramatic attacks in cyber history took place late last year when Sony’s network was attacked by hackers as the company prepared to release “The Interview,” a comedy about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The attack was followed by online leaks of unreleased movies and emails that caused embarrassment to executives and Hollywood personalities. In China, widespread use of unauthorized copies of software downloaded from websites run by pirates, allow hackers to insert malicious code to gain access to company networks. In countries such as India, Thailand or Pakistan, even security-conscious companies may not be able to afford the most advanced software tools. Perhaps the need of the hour is international co-operation. US President Barack Obama moved cyber security towards the top of his 2015 agenda after the recent breaches. The US government had noted, ‘We are at an inflection point, both domestically and internationally, and now is the time to raise the call for greater collective action.’ And truer words have not been spoken. According to  whitehouse.gov, Obama alongwith Modi had noted the serious risks to national and economic security from malicious cyber activity and agreed to cooperate on enhancing ‘operational sharing of cyber threat information, examining how international law applies in cyberspace, and working together to build agreement on norms of responsible state behavior.’ The above statement proves that India is in fact, is working towards tackling cyber crime. But, given how we, as a country, usually tackle such issues with alarmingly laidback mindset – cyber security might raise it’s head far more times than we would like or can afford. The Government will need to work harder and faster to curb ths menace so that the country can rest easy that their vital data remains safe. It won’t be easy but it has to be done.