Government of India Issues Alert on Possible Cyberattack by Indonesian Hackers

Government of India has warned state governments and union territories on a cyberattack being planned by  Indonesian hackers. In the past, Hacker groups Dragonforce Malaysia and Hacktivist Indonesia had targeted Indian websites. The most recent alert issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs' Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) states that as many as 12,000 government websites in India are being targeted by Indonesian hackers.

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) was established by the Ministry of Home Affairs, in New Delhi to provide a framework and eco-system for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) for dealing with Cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner. 

Industry View on Cyberattack by Indonesian Hackers

Ashish Tandon, founder and CEO, Indusface says that the massive wave of attacks launched by Indonesian hackers is a major cause of concern for the central and state governments. “While we are rapidly advancing down the path of digital transformation, there is still a major lack of attention given to cybersecurity aspects. DoS and DDoS attacks are among the largest attack types as they are easy to mount and can be crippling in effect. The best defense against these is to have extreme scalability that can only be offered by the cloud. On-premises tools and website hosting, as is the case with most government departments, are inadequate to counter these threats. While these might have worked a decade or two back, today, even hackers are using advanced cloud-based AI tech to launch attacks. It is time that the government focuses on shifting its digital infrastructure to the cloud,” says Tandon.

Tandon adds that it is also important to be cautious of social engineering attacks and avoid clicking on unknown emails or links that could potentially put their safety at risk. “Finally, every organization must collaborate with a specialist security solutions company that offers a fully managed platform that integrates a web application scanner, web application firewall, DDoS & BOT Mitigation, CDN, and threat intelligence engine. This proactive and comprehensive approach is the surest way to beat the hackers and keep India’s digital transformation going smoothly and safely."