WannaCry ransomware did not have any serious impact on India, says Ravi Shankar Prasad

The government today said there was no serious impact on the country from a global ransomware cyberattack, except for a few isolated incidents in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, and steps were being taken to deal with any future threat. Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the systems run by the National Informatics Centre were secured and running smoothly. A cyber coordination centre will start operating from next month to take precautions against such attacks, he said. “There is no major impact in India unlike other countries. We are keeping a close watch. As per the information received so far, there have been isolated incidents in limited areas in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh,” he told reporters here. The minister said India has started installing ‘patches’ since March besides sending advisories regularly to all stakeholders. A patch is a software used to correct any loophole in a programme including security vulnerabilities. India is also coordinating with international agencies, cleaning up the malware and conducting cyber drill regularly to foil possible cyber attacks. Asked about reports of networks of a few banks being compromised, the minister said he had no such information. India is on high alert, monitoring critical networks across sectors like banking, telecom, power and aviation to ensure that systems are protected against possible cyberattack on its vital networks by the crippling global ransomware,‘WannaCry’. ‘WannaCry’ has disrupted networks in over 150 countries, including Russia and the UK, and is being termed as one of the most widespread cyber attacks. Reports suggest that over two lakh systems globally could have been infected by the malicious software that blocks access to data unless a ransom is paid.