New Delhi: In a bid to thwart hacking, the
government has started keeping secret files in stand-alone
computers devoid of any external links and storage devices.
Official sources said the step has been taken after
frequent attempts by international hackers, specially from
China, to penetrate into computers of sensitive ministries
like Defence, External Affairs, Home and Prime Minister's
Office.
"Secret files are now kept in computers which have no
external links. Besides, no pen drive is allowed to install in
such stand-alone computers," a source said.
Investigations by government agencies have found that
hackers from China regularly try to penetrate into computers
used by top officials and the take away files to four
particular destinations in China.
"The Chinese hackers take away around four million
data every day from computers across the globe," the source
said.
Former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had
said that his office and other government departments were
targeted on December 15, 2009 the same date when Google
reported cyber attacks originating from China.
He said the attack came in the form of an e-mail with
a PDF attachment containing the 'Trojan' virus which allows a
hacker to access a computer remotely and download or delete
files.
Google had shut down its operations in China after
uncovering hacking attempts into e-mail accounts of Chinese
human rights activists.
PTI
First Published: Friday, May 07, 2010, 21:37