Over 62,000 cyber attacks reported till May 2014: CERT-In

Computer Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) has reported as many as 62,189 cyber attacks in the first five months of this year, while 9,174 Indian websites were hacked by groups across the world. The figures were revealed by Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in a written response to Lok Sabha.

“During the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (till May), a total number of 21,699, 27,605, 28,481 and 9,174 Indian websites were hacked by various hacker groups spread across worldwide. In addition, during these years, a total number of 13,301, 22,060, 71,780 and 62,189 security incidents, respectively, were reported to the CERT-In,” Prasad said.

According to the minister, the attacks include spam, malicious code, website intrusions, phishing and scanning. “These attacks have been observed to be originating from the cyber space of a number of countries including the US, Europe, Brazil, Turkey, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria and the UAE,” he disclosed. 

“Cyber space is virtual, borderless and anonymous due to which it becomes difficult to actually trace the origin of a cyber attack,” the Minister pointed out.

The latest figures – over 60,000 cyber attacks in first five months – are cause of concern for the Indian security sleuths as well as Internet users in the country. 

It's notable CERT-In's monthly security bulletin for March 2014 reveals a “total of 13930 security incidents including phishing, virus/malicious code, network scanning/probing, spam, spread of malware through website compromise and technical help under others category” in that month.

“In addition, a total of 1472 Indian websites were defaced in March, 2014. A consolidated picture of security incidents reported in March, 2014 and website defacements tracked by CERT,” it adds. 

In the meanwhile, the CERT-In has warned Internet users in India against phishing attacks from digital signatures that have “unauthorisedly” issued through the state-owned National Informatics Centre (NIC). 

“Certain SSL certificates have been unauthorisedly got issued through National Informatics Centre-CA (NIC-CA). These certificates could be exploited by remote attackers to spoof content, perform phishing attacks or perform man-in-the-middle attacks,” the CERT-In said in its advisory to users.