Crooks on hacking spree in Assam

Cyber attacks on websites of Assam police, government departments and media group

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Oct 6: In a bizarre incident, the official website of the Assam police was hacked by cyber crooks recently. After it came to light on Tuesday, the incident set off alarm bells in the State administration, forcing it to disable over 20 websites of various departments as a preventive measure.

These websites include www.assam.cag.gov.in, www.assam.nic.in, www.ahsec.nic.in and www.ssaassam.gov.in.

It has been learnt that the cyber crooks changed contents of some government websites, which forced the NIC Assam to take down the websites to avoid trouble.

Talking to mediapersons, State Information Officer, NIC, Dipak Goswami said, “It has come to our notice that some elements are changing contents of government websites of the State. We are monitoring it closely. As of now, 20 plus websites which were attacked or where hackers made an attempt, have been disabled as a preventive measure,” adding, “It will take another two-three days to restore the systems.”

Asked what will be their strategy in future, Goswami said that the cyber security system will be strengthened manifold. On being asked whether any complaint has been lodged with the police, he said, “We have not lodged any complaint formally. If necessary, we will definitely do so.”

Meanwhile, talking to The Sentinel, DGP Khagen Sharma said, “The Assam police website was distorted. But we can’t say it was hacked. The CID is monitoring it closely.”

The media in the State too was a victim of the latest wave of cyber attacks. On Monday, the website of a leading vercular daily was hacked. However, it was restored within a day.

It may be mentioned that a few weeks back, Pakistani hackers defaced 24 government websites of Chhattisgarh and Kerala. This was followed by an attack on a Pakistani government website Municipal Services Program Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (www.mspkp.gov.pk) by a group calling itself ‘Hell Shield Hackers’, as a retaliation against Pakistani hackers.

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