Cyber terrorists targeting Indian banks like never before; time to be on high alert

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: The incidents of cyber attacks on Indian banks are on the rise and its time to be on high alert, warns India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the government's nodal agency that deals with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing.

As per The Economic Times report, India's Computer Emergency Response Team, had directed banks to be on high alert for possible cyber attacks emanating from foreign locations.

The agency has been sending advisories to banks and financial institutions about possible breaches in their firewalls. Recently, CERT-In had sent warning to banks in months before the attack- in July and August- and two weeks ago,"even as a malware infection was spreading through their networks and spawning the country's biggest known breach of financial data, said the ET report.

The report said that on July 1, the cyber watchdog advised banks and the other financial institutions about cyber attacks planned on their information infrastructure along with the measures to be taken. 

On August 12 and 24, CERT-In sent alerts to banks regarding backdoor Trojans that steal credentials, alerting them to advanced targeted cyber attacks along with how to look for signs of possible security breaches. The latest of these advisories was on October 7, as it warned about 'expected targeted attacks from Pakistan", in the wake of India's counterstrike across the border following terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. 

After the strikes across the border, there was rise in the number of attacks on various Indian websites — some reports put these at 7,000 — by Pakistani hackers. 

The cyber experts are of the view that Indian systems are not prepared enough to tackle cyber terrorism, and lack quality monitoring. They are also of the view that India needs to increase spending enough on cyber security if it wants to hold off cyber terrorism.