112 government websites attacked in 3 months

Over the years, government websites have become the target of hackers and in recent times we’ve seen a rise in such events. Recently, Defence Research and Development Organization disclosed that the government websites were attacked 200 times during the Commonwealth Games 2010. This continues as in the last three months 112 government websites were hacked, as per reports by IBNLive. The list of hacked websites hacked or defaced includes the Planning Commission, the Finance Ministry and several State government agencies.

Cyber attack on a rise (Image Credit: Getty Images)

“During the period December 2011 to February 2012, a total number of 112 government websites were hacked,” Minister of State for Communications and IT, Sachin Pilot told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. He also added that the Department of Information Technology and the National Informatics Centre (NIC), which host major of these government websites have been working at updating their skills to prevent and combat such cyber attacks. To ensure that hackers do not target government websites, firewalls are being upgraded and there has been addition of newer filters. 

The state government websites under attack were from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Hackers attempted to break into different websites of the Andhra Pradesh government's websites pertaining to finance and justice departments, while a security audit was being conducted at the State Data Centre. Last year the Central Bureau of Investigation website was hacked and took weeks to restore. The Congress website was also hacked, and an Irish government website was hacked to protest against a web law. Hackers tried breaking into the BSNL website, first in July and then in December. A lot of personal information and data would have been at stake if it was successful.

Such increasing attacks on government websites and the alarming numbers need to be curbed as soon as possible. We hope stringent measures are taken to deter such malicious acts.