Hackers broke into Andhra Pradesh’s prestigious e-governance project, the AP State Wide Area Network (Apswan), in an attempt to steal information and in the process injected a virus besides causing "congestion" in the network.
Apswan is the mail server of the Andhra Pradesh Technology Services, which is the nodal agency meeting the IT requirements of various state government departments and private clients.Though the hacking took place in the second week of December, Andhra Pradesh Technology Services (Apts) managing director K. Sunita lodged a complaint with the Crime Investigation Department (CID) only on December 28 after an "internal check". CID officials suspect that cyber terrorists or miscreants could have been behind the hacking. Cyber security experts of Apts and Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) found that the hackers had tried to steal information from Apswan. Apswan is considered to be the backbone of all state government intranets. It is the first of its kind in the country, linking the state secretariat with all district collectorates with fibre optic lines. Some of the messages are highly sensitive in nature.
The experts also detected the "Spybot", a dangerous computer virus that paralyses servers and computer networks.The case has been handed over to the Cyber Crime Police of the CID. The hacking incident has gained significance as the police is in the process of becoming part of Apswan.
CID officials, however, made a quick breakthrough with the help of systems analyst of Apts, and tracked down the Internet Protocol addresses of the hackers. They are now trying to trace the origin of intrusion and virus.According to the complaint, the mail server suffered heavy traffic congestion in the second week of December.
Principal systems analyst of Apts T. Srinivas Rao, told this newspaper that, "Hackers had sent lot of ‘packets of information’ into our network. It also included the ‘Spybot’ and some intrusion elements."The experts feel that the hackers tried to steal information from the network but failed.
The hackers could have gained entry as a result of delay in updating the anti-virus software in the intranets. "We have rectified the problem in the system. There is no problem now," said Mr Srinivas Rao.Mr Rao said: "Some of the IP addresses found are within the intranet and some from the United States. There are no IP addresses of Pakistan. We can’t pinpoint the origin of hacking as most of the servers are based in the US. The hacking could have been done from any country. This has to be probed by the CID. I do not suspect this to be a terrorist act. We are also ruling out the involvement of any former or dismissed employee."
Mr Srinivas Rao further said that Apts has blocked all IP addresses which were found to be suspicious and prevented them from further accessing the network.A CID official told this correspondent: "We have to book a case under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act for hacking. We are still collecting information. Since Hyderabad has become the IT hub of India, the hackers may have chosen it. Earlier, there have been instances of ISI agents hacking several Indian websites and networks."
Apswan is the mail server of the Andhra Pradesh Technology Services, which is the nodal agency meeting the IT requirements of various state government departments and private clients.Though the hacking took place in the second week of December, Andhra Pradesh Technology Services (Apts) managing director K. Sunita lodged a complaint with the Crime Investigation Department (CID) only on December 28 after an "internal check". CID officials suspect that cyber terrorists or miscreants could have been behind the hacking. Cyber security experts of Apts and Computer Maintenance Corporation (CMC) found that the hackers had tried to steal information from Apswan. Apswan is considered to be the backbone of all state government intranets. It is the first of its kind in the country, linking the state secretariat with all district collectorates with fibre optic lines. Some of the messages are highly sensitive in nature.
The experts also detected the "Spybot", a dangerous computer virus that paralyses servers and computer networks.The case has been handed over to the Cyber Crime Police of the CID. The hacking incident has gained significance as the police is in the process of becoming part of Apswan.
CID officials, however, made a quick breakthrough with the help of systems analyst of Apts, and tracked down the Internet Protocol addresses of the hackers. They are now trying to trace the origin of intrusion and virus.According to the complaint, the mail server suffered heavy traffic congestion in the second week of December.
Principal systems analyst of Apts T. Srinivas Rao, told this newspaper that, "Hackers had sent lot of ‘packets of information’ into our network. It also included the ‘Spybot’ and some intrusion elements."The experts feel that the hackers tried to steal information from the network but failed.
The hackers could have gained entry as a result of delay in updating the anti-virus software in the intranets. "We have rectified the problem in the system. There is no problem now," said Mr Srinivas Rao.Mr Rao said: "Some of the IP addresses found are within the intranet and some from the United States. There are no IP addresses of Pakistan. We can’t pinpoint the origin of hacking as most of the servers are based in the US. The hacking could have been done from any country. This has to be probed by the CID. I do not suspect this to be a terrorist act. We are also ruling out the involvement of any former or dismissed employee."
Mr Srinivas Rao further said that Apts has blocked all IP addresses which were found to be suspicious and prevented them from further accessing the network.A CID official told this correspondent: "We have to book a case under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act for hacking. We are still collecting information. Since Hyderabad has become the IT hub of India, the hackers may have chosen it. Earlier, there have been instances of ISI agents hacking several Indian websites and networks."