CERT-In to look into cyber attacks affecting I-T dept, banks

New Delhi: The government's top cyber security
arm has initiated a probe into complaints of I-T department,
banks and other financial bodies who have reported a spurt in
cyber attacks and fake mails, which was affecting their
operations.
The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)
CERT-In, a technical and cyber security department
under the Ministry of Communications and Information
Technology, is the nodal agency to analyse and respond to
cyber attacks and intrusions into the country's information and
technology networks.

These agencies have asked the CERT-In to arm them with
pro-active measures so that they can prevent phishing attacks
as huge monetary transactions are involved and also recover
any lost data.
"The CERT-In is working on incident reports sent by
the I-T department and various banks who have complained about
phishing attacks on their servers and in one case, even the
facsimile of a banking institution was stolen and used for
fraudulent purposes," a source said.
While banks have reported about "fraudulent entities"
interacting with their customers to share passwords, account
details and PIN numbers to the CERT-In, the I-T department and
its directorates have reported fake mails sent to taxpayers
and have also asked for securing passwords used by income tax
officials, especially handling refunds.