India unprepared for cyber attack: report

NEW DELHI: Indian government preparedness in wake of a cyber attack is weak and institutions responsible for identifying and neutralising the threat are unable to take stock of the situation, The Wire revealed in an investigative story.

According to the paper, earlier this year cyber-security firm Symantec stated that it had traced breaches of several Indian organisations mostly financial to a cyber-espionage group called Suckfly, and a week after this revelation another cyber-security firm, Kaspersky Lab shared information of cyber attack on Indian government systems through diplomatic entities.

Suckfly targeted information systems belonged to the central government, a large financial institution, a vendor to the largest stock exchange and an e-commerce company. The espionage activity began in April 2014 and continued through 2015, Symantec said.

It is not unusual for large financial institutions and government networks to face such threats but these attacks on Indian networks were unique in nature as these breaches were reported by third parties while the ‘targets (in this case, Indian organisations and the government) themselves have remained silent’.

The report stated that despite several attempts seeking more information about the attacks there was no or little response from the affected organizations.

‘This collective lack of response across the board indicates a mindset that shows unpreparedness for the cyber threats that are very real, existent and ongoing.’

The Wire report shared a security analysis by KPMG and the Confederation of Indian Industry, published in August: “While traditionally cyber attacks were largely used for causing financial and reputational loss, today they have a potential of posing a threat to human life.”

The Indian government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), which is responsible for ‘responding to computer security incidents’ has no details to share regarding the latest attack. As of September 12, the website of CERT-IN does not mention the exploits used by Suckfly and Danti and any organization relying on it ‘would be in dark and exposed to breach’.

From mandatory disclosures, to improving CERT-IN’s functioning and transparency, there is much to be done in the event of future cyber attacks, the report added.