Cyber attacks on public websites have become an increasing concern for governments across the world, and this article is related to one such news. An Indonesian hackers’ group claimed on the dark web that they are responsible for cyber attacks launched on over 12,000 Indian websites, and more will follow in the coming days.
After suspicion pointed towards Anonymous Sudan, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs, disclosed that the culprit is an Indonesian hackers’ group that has been assigned the task to take down crucial infrastructure via denial-of-service attacks or ransomware.
According to a source from the Home Ministry, the attacks were supposed to trigger concerns among the government and the populace. But fortunately, most of the attacks were neutralized at the entry point by related software tools, thus bringing a big relief to the BJP-led government, which otherwise would have been prone to a major embarrassment.
Interestingly, a few healthcare and defense websites related to Central and State governments were also targeted by a pro-Islamic hacktivist group named “Anonymous Sudan” in the last week of March this year. Their plan was to target the digital operations being carried out at the seaports, airports, and major hospitals.
US-based cybersecurity firm Radware confirmed that the attacks were politically motivated and might be the work of those who were acting on the words of the opposition parties to divert attention. Those impacted were the airport websites in Hyderabad, New Delhi, Cochin, Goa, and the Airports Authority of India, IRCTC, and Income Tax websites.
Security analysts state that the work could be that of those who were interested in churning out cyber warfare. Not long ago, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) was also hit by a malware attack, disrupting the digital operations of the medical institute for weeks.
