The dreaded mass-mailing worm expected to strike computers across the world today has kept the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, set up by the Department of Information Technology, on its toes.
Zoom became a popular application for executives conducting meetings while working from home during the countrywide lockdown announced by the central government to contain coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The country's cyber security agency CERT-In has advised Facebook users to strengthen their account privacy settings after a recent global 'data scraping' incident in the social media platform affected about 61 lakh Indians.
'Maybe the State wants to be watching people all the time. But when they are watching, others too may be watching!' 'The State is becoming more and more secretive while throwing people to the wolves.'
Several Indian banks have alerted their customers not to download apps from any source other than official app stores. Banking customers are being targeted by a new type of mobile banking malware campaign using SOVA Android Trojan. This malware captures the credentials when users log onto their net-banking apps and access bank accounts. The new version of SOVA appears to be targeting more than 200 mobile applications, including banking apps and crypto wallets.
Sansad TV, which broadcasts live Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings, on Tuesday said its YouTube channel was compromised due to unauthorised activities by "some scamsters".
Home ministry sources say there are fears that international lobbies might have been involved in spying, to create a narrative around Indian governance as well as the economy.
Unidentified hackers gained access to the website of Thane police in Maharashtra and uploaded a message demanding apology to Muslims "all over the world", the police said on Tuesday.
'If there are any incidents of cyberattacks, they should immediately inform CERT.'
The particular channel on messaging platform Telegram was flagged on social media by users who pointed out that it was targeting Hindu women, sharing their photos and abusing them.
'The skilling gap is a serious issue.' 'We partner with the government on skilling, but as a company we have several skilling programmes, and we work closely with the partner ecosystem.
'Why does a State that sees a national security issue at every turn not recognise the seriousness of the data from sensitive databases being breached?'
Computer emergency response teams will be strengthened with ethical hackers who will respond to cyberattacks.
'They (the ransomware attackers) are not after any VVIP data.' 'Had that been the case, they would have quietly installed a different malware.'
The Reserve Bank has restricted American Express Banking Corp and Diners Club International Ltd from on-boarding new domestic customers onto their card networks from May 1 for violating data storage norms. The order will not impact the existing customers of these two entities, the central bank said in a statement on Friday.
The attack is not focused towards any particular industry but it is widely spread across industries
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday barred Mastercard Asia Pacific from onboarding new credit, debit and prepaid card customers with effect from July 22 as it failed to comply with data storage norms. The supervisory action will not impact existing customers of Mastercard, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said. Taking action against Mastercard, RBI said, "notwithstanding lapse of considerable time and adequate opportunities being given, the entity has been found to be non-compliant with the directions on Storage of Payment System Data".
In the quest for 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', Indian Army has developed and launched a secure messaging application named the 'Secure Application for the Internet (SAI)' that supports an end-to-end secure voice, text and video calling services for Android platform over internet, the Ministry of Defence said in New Delhi on Thursday.
According to WhatsApp, the spyware was developed by Israel-based NSO Group and had been used to snoop on about 1,400 users globally, including 121 users from India.
It asked users to be alert against all attempts of phishing through fake domains, emails and text messages that promise registration for a jab against the pandemic.
It said the ransomware called 'WannaCry' or 'WannaCrypt' encrypts the computer's hard disk drive and then spreads laterally between computers on the same LAN.
Police has has also sought information from GitHub platform about the 'Bulli Bai' app developer.
Domino's India data that included sensitive customer information such as their names, phone numbers, and credit card details has allegedly been breached and put on sale on the dark web. According to tweets by Israel-based Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of cybercrime intelligence firm Hudson Rock, Alon Gal, the data is worth 13 terabytes (TB). He tweeted on Sunday that the data includes as many as 180 million order details, including 1 million credit card details. The data, said Gal, was up for sale on the dark web. The threat actor, he said, was asking for $550,000 for the data.
Even as India's internet base continues to widen, with the country set to have over 900 internet users by 2025, a parallel rise in cyber threats has become a matter of huge concern. Experts say that the sudden surge in digital adoption left little time to develop a cybersecurity backbone for the country. This has put large amounts of data at risk.
The government websites host information for public dissemination.
The NCW has written to the Delhi Police to expedite its action in the case against the 'Bulli Bai' app, floated for trolling and harassing the victims, to ensure that such crimes do not recur.
The Delhi police on Sunday registered a case based on a complaint filed by a woman journalist alleging that she was being targetted by an unidentified group of people on a mobile application named 'Bulli Bai' created on GitHub platform.
While some of the banks mentioned in the report said they have not come across any such fake apps, others have started an inquiry and also informed the CERT-In -- the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incident.
Given the security dilemma prevailing between India and China, India should curb the operation of Chinese telecom companies in India, asserts Dr Rup Narayan Das.
A new breed of hackers has emerged, whose main aim is not necessarily financial gain but causing disruption
Sectoral cyber security teams to be set up to curb attacks, cyber coordination centre likely be set up in New Delhi by June.
WhatsApp, last month, sued Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group, accusing it of helping those buying its spyware Pegasus break into the phones of roughly 1,400 users across four continents.
Govt, telecom, defence sectors most attacked by cybercriminals
The government has warned the users of social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter of a virus that is spreading through these sites targeting the members.
The attackers are not confined to information infrastructures and geographical boundaries. They exploit network interconnections and navigate easily through the infrastructure. More worryingly, these cyber criminals are becoming more skilled at masking their behaviour.
13 persons were picked up by the Special Cell after a late night operation on Tuesday. Of them, three -- Sajid, Sameer Ahmed, and Shakir Ansari -- have been arrested, four let off and six are still being questioned by the investigators.
A specialised force with 1,000 personnel to be formed in the state for the same.
The government has asked all central and state departments and ministries to stop using private email services for official communication and instead use indigenous services provided by NIC, to prevent "misuse" or "leakage" of classified data.
The deadly virus has been identified as 'AndroidSmssend' and it can acquire as many as four aliases to hoodwink the user and perpetrate its destructive activities on a personal Android enabled phone.
WhatsApp remains committed to the protection of all user messages through the product we provide, the company said
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