Tag Archive for: MHA

MHA issues cyber alert for G20 Summit, shares threat, target details with ministries

/in


In an effort to prevent any cyber network exploitation related with the G20 Summit, which India will host in 2023, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has shared a list of “potential (cyber) attackers” and “reported historically targeted G20 Summits” with all ministries and departments, it is learnt.

The ministry is also learnt to have informed the ministries that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the country’s premier cybersecurity agency, has found that spear phishing will be the “primary vector” used to target individuals and organisations associated with the G20 Summit with email contexts, Covid-19 pandemic funds, and digital transformation.

Spear phishing is an attempt to trick a particular person or group into giving private information over the internet or by email, especially by sending emails that seem to be from someone they know, according to the dictionary.

Sources said the directions were issued by MHA’s Cyber & Information Security (C&IS) division a few days ago. It asks all ministries/departments to look for attempted distributed denial of services (DDOS) activities on G20 websites by mercenary or hacktivist groups, and to closely monitor all G20-related social media handles. “The C&IS division has informed that CERT-In has been actively tracking specific threats to G20 Summits both in Bali (hosts of the 2022 edition of the summit) and the forthcoming Summit activities in Delhi,” a source said.

The suspected “cyber adversaries” are operating on behalf of North Korea, PRC and Russia, “directly targeting G20-related materials through cyber espionage campaigns since 2013”, this source, with knowledge of the development, said.

The C&IS division of MHA deals with matters relating to cybersecurity, cybercrime, national information security policy and guidelines (NISPG) and its implementation, and the national intelligence grid.

“CERT-In has informed that, according to their assessment, espionage actors from various countries will have an interest in targeting government- and conference-related entities in the host country, attenders and individuals interested in the G20 Summit,” another source said.

Last month,…

Source…

Security up in 4 Punjab jails after MHA intel input

/in


The security has been beefed up across jails in Punjab after an intelligence input from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sent to the Punjab Police has alerted that the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative and wanted gangster-terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda, believed to be hiding in Pakistan, has “conceived a jailbreak plan in Punjab” to “ensure release of some prominent gangsters and militants”.

According to the letter accessed by The Indian Express, the “likely targets of execution could be Bathinda jail, Ferozepur jail, Amritsar jail or Ludhiana jail”. The development comes few days after Punjab witnessed back-to-back incidents of violence and security breach, allegedly planned and executed by the gangsters operating from abroad with the help of local criminals, including murder of kabaddi player Sandeep Singh Nangal Ambian on March 14, RPG attack on police intelligence.

HQs in Mohali on May 9 and gruesome killing of singer-rapper Sidhu  Moosewala on May 29.

The letter written by the joint director, SIB (MHA) to Punjab Police DGP says that “according to a reliable input, Pakistan-based operative Harvinder Singh alias Rinda has conceived a jail break plan in Punjab in coming days to ensure release of some prominent gangsters and militants”.

Best of Express Premium
Anjum Chopra writes: In women’s cricket, let’s count the victoriesPremium
Tavleen Singh writes: Another exodus in Kashmir?Premium
An Express Investigation – Part 2 | Class 5A Topic: MathematicsPremium
Has the sun finally set on the British Empire? The Queen and the Commonwe...Premium

“Besides utilising his Punjab-based cohorts, Rinda is also likely to rope in some jehadi elements in execution of the plan. The likely targets of execution could be Bathinda jail, Ferozepur jail, Amritsar jail or Ludhiana jail,” reads the letter.

Rinda, a wanted terrorist-gangster considered close to BKI chief Wadhawa Singh and ‘being protected’ by the ISI in Pakistan, is a close associate of Lakhvir Singh Landa, a gangster hiding in Canada and the key conspirator of RPG attack on Punjab Police’s intelligence HQs, said Punjab Police.

Rinda, 35, is also suspected of carrying out a terror attack at the Nawanshahr Crime Investigating Agency (CIA) building on November 8 last year. In May this year, in a joint operation of Punjab and Haryana police also arrested four terror suspects from Karnal who were allegedly travelling to Telangana to deliver a…

Source…

Nearly 12 lakh cyber security incidents observed in 2020: MHA

/in


In response to a parliamentary question, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) revealed that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) tracked 11,58,208 cybersecurity incidents in 2020. This is a sharp rise from the 3,94,499 incidents that occurred in 2019. In a different answer to a Lok Sabha query, the government said that CERT-in received 26,121 reports of Indian websites being hacked last year, of which 59 websites belonged to central and state governments.

For more info on some of the major cyberattacks that occurred in 2020, read our earlier story: 2020 was a good year for cyber criminals, a bad one for financial and payments security

MHA did not provide any further details on the cyberattacks but lists several initiatives taken by the government to prevent cyber attacks:

  1. CERT-In issues alerts and advisories to concerned entities on the latest cyber threats
  2. The government has issued guidelines for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) regarding their responsibility for securing government applications and infrastructure.
  3. A Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP) has been formulated for implementation in all government entities.
  4. All government websites and applications are audited with respect to cybersecurity, both before and after hosting.
  5. The government is operating Cyber Swachhta Kendra, a botnet cleaning and malware analysis centre that provides tools to detect malicious programs and remove them.
  6. The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) has been set up to generate awareness of existing and potential cybersecurity threats.

The government was responding to a Lok Sabha query by BJP MP Pratima Bhoumik.

Full question and answer

Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether there has been an increase in cyber attacks in the country;

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

(b) if so, the details of cyber attacks reported during the last two years;

(c) whether there are reports of cyber attack into systems of the companies which manage power supply and also into the system of a company which is supplying COVID-19 Vaccine across the country; and

(d) if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government in this…

Source…