Malware attack prompts Uttarakhand to consider cyber security task force

The Uttarakhand government will form a cyber security task force- a decision that was taken after the websites of most government departments had to be shut down due to malware.  

On October 2, the state’s data centre was infected, and it was only on Monday morning that some websites were up and running. These included important ones like revenue and e offices. 

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had directed that sites directly related to public welfare be made up and running on priority. The proposed cyber security task force will be set up in consultation with the best government agencies working in the Information Technology domain. Till such a force is constituted there will be periodic safety audits of the state data centre. The force will include a disaster recovery centre which shall be able to retrieve or recover such information that is lost because of cyber-attacks or bugs. 

The state will study the available best practices from across the country to include in the task force. 

However, there seem to be more basic concerns also at play as Dhami had to direct that the anti-virus and security software at all government offices be mandatorily updated. 

The government has downplayed the effect of the malware. A government release said that only 11 of the 1378 machines at the data centre were found to be malware infected. Yet the entire data centre was scanned multiple times. According to the official version, government websites were shut down as a precautionary measure. This had included the chief minister’s helpline and the Char Dham registration site. With the former helpline down, people who had called were given callbacks and their grievances registered. 

The government maintains that there is no loss of data and no indication of a leak.