Bangalore: Hackers were able to access around 112 government websites in a period of just three months, revealed Sachin pilot, Minister of Communication and Information Technology.

The hacked websites belong to agencies in the government of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur and also the agencies of Ministry of Finance, Health, Planning Commission and Human Resource Development.

Based on the analysis of web server logs, the agencies were requested by the government to strengthen their security measures. The counter measures to patch the exploited vulnerabilities were handed over to the agencies by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).  

As reported by ZDnet, most of the state government’s websites are very poor in security. Many of them run on a single server. For example the websites of Rajasthan government.  This will make them more vulnerable to attacks as, if a hacker can exploit any of this website, he can simultaneously access the related ones.

According to the press release, Government plans to implement the following steps to strengthen the security.

All the new Government websites and applications are to be audited with respect to cyber security prior to their hosting. The auditing of the websites and applications will be conducted on a regular basis after hosting.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been directed not to host web sites which are not audited with respect to cyber security.

National Informatics Centre (NIC) which hosts the government websites is continuously engaged in upgrading and improving the security posture of its hosting infrastructure.

All the Ministries/ Departments of Central Government and State Governments are implementing the Crisis Management Plan to counter cyber attacks and cyber terrorism.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) will issue alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and countermeasures on regular basis.

The minister also added that the number of internet frauds involving Rupees one lakh and above has declined from 269 to 125 over a period of three years.