Fresh bid to hack websites foiled

The attempts were made from Jakarta, Algeria and Turkey

Even as the Information Technology Department and AP State Data Centre activated its internal security audit check for web applications following hacking of 27 websites four days ago, fresh attempts at cyber intrusion were foiled on Monday.

Repeated attempts were made to hack the websites that were made operational in the last few days, at different times on Monday before noon. However, these attempts made from Jakarta, Algeria and Turkey were not successful as the internal security audit had been completed for these websites, according to IT Minister Ponnala Laxmaiah.

The hacking operation was analysed by the Centre for Emergency Response Team-India (CERT-In) and the root cause was identified as the vulnerability in the website christianminorities.ap.gov.in.

Following this, an agency -- M/s Cyber Security Works -- was engaged for application security audit before restoration.

The applications certified after audit would be tested by Wipro ethical hacking team before hosting, Mr. Laxmaiah said in a statement.

Applications restored

Applications on 11 websites were restored, but three websites were still experiencing problems and needed department application team to address the issue.

Meanwhile audit of six applications was under progress and expected to be completed by Monday night, the statement added.

The identified vulnerable website would be further examined for a detailed analysis.

The IT Minister called for a high-level meeting with department officials, investigating agencies, empanelled agencies, maintenance agencies, and all the departments which hosted websites on February 22, for further review.