Virus attack detected
In a shocking disclosure, government has detected a threat of virus attacks and Trojans to government installations. All government departments have been put on high alert.
A letter to this effect mentions that such attacks were noticed in sensitive government departments. Files accompanied by an attachment ‘cabnote’ are entering the network.
The Trojan horse or virus in government computer networks is also resistant to anti-spyware and firewalls. One IP address that has been detected comes from California.
Though the Govt has sent out a high alert to all departments to wake up to the Trojan virus threat, the virus attack comes when government has already put in place a cyber security cell headed by the Intelligence Bureau.
Gearing up for cyber threat
On the back of the Indo-US nuclear deal, elevated strategic ties with Washington and an increasing terror threat, the government is now planning to set up a national critical infrastructure protection centre.
Based in Delhi, this will be an umbrella body under the National Technical Research Organisation. This body has been proposed to work out cyber regulation to protect critical infrastructure and monitor the security paraphernalia in the country.
The government has been concerned over its weaknesses on the cyber front, which necessitated the conception of this body.
Roadblocks for the government
The government is waking up to the danger, though a little late. But now that it has, the main challenge before it is to implement these guidelines as soon as and as effectively as possible.
The main lacuna in this proposal is that it has to be adjusted to the lack of computer proficiency amongst top bureaucrats in the government. As of now bureaucrats have been dependent on an army of technicians and software professionals. Carrying out background checks on these computer professionals can be a monumental task for any security setup.
To ensure that they are alert to the new-age high-tech warfare that can be launched, bureaucrats will also have to be taken through a sensitisation programme.
What is a Trojan?
It is a malicious code concealed inside an apparently harmless file. In fact, even a word document or a letter.
Users are tricked into opening the file by making them believe it comes from a legitimate source. This is done by spoofing the e-mail address of the sender, making it appear to be from a colleague.
Entire e-mails with the harmful file can be faked to make it look believable.
source: timesnow.tv
This entry was posted on Monday, December 25th, 2006 at 8:31 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
