The NIC handles government ICT requirements and cybersecurity (Representational)
New Delhi:
Computers containing data related to national security and VVIP like Prime Minister Narendra Modi were compromised in early September after a major security breach was recorded in the NIC (National Center for Informatics), police sources said. from Delhi.
The computers entered also stored data related to national security adviser Ajit Doval, Indian citizens and senior government officials.
The NIC establishes and maintains information and communications technology and security for government.
The Delhi Police Special Cell filed a case immediately after the attack, which is believed to have originated from a Bengaluru company.
According to sources, the attack began with the receipt of an email to NIC employees. When a link provided in that email was clicked, the data stored on that machine was compromised and computer systems were affected.
Sources also said that the original email came from an American company based in Bengaluru (the email’s IP address originated there).
More investigations are underway, the sources said.
The breach comes amid allegations that a Chinese company, Zhenhua Data Information, is conducting covert surveillance of thousands of Indians, including the Prime Minister, the President, the Vice President and the Chief of the Army.
Sources have said that the government has formed a committee of experts (under the National Cyber Security Coordinator) to study these accusations. The committee must submit a report within 30 days.
In a letter to the leader of Congress, KC Venugopal, who had raised this issue, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that the claims referred to the Overseas Key Information Database (OKID), which covers around than 2.4 million people worldwide.
The issue has also been raised by the Foreign Ministry with Sun Weidong, China’s ambassador to India. The Chinese government has said that Zhenhua is a privately owned company with no ties to Beijing.
Zhenhua itself has said that OKID’s data was collected from open sources and is no different from similar databases maintained by Western companies. They have denied access to private information from confidential sources, Jaishankar said in her letter.
The dispute over alleged spying and surveillance by Chinese companies comes amid a serious military confrontation between the two countries along the LAC (Line of Royal Control) in Ladakh.
Tensions have soared since a violent clash in the Galwan region in June, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the line of duty.
So far, multiple talks at the military, diplomatic and ministerial levels have failed to resolve the problem. The foreign ministers met in Moscow and drew up a five-point plan to ease the tension.
According to the PTI news agency, in June, days after the Galwan incident, the Department of Telecommunications told state-owned companies MSNL and BSNL to avoid using Chinese equipment to upgrade their 4G facilities.
The United States has also made accusations that Chinese companies operating in foreign countries are secretly spying on citizens of those nations, which blacklisted Huawei in May citing national security concerns.
With input from PTI
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