An alert was sounded after fresh reports of the hacking of sensitive information and restricted operational details from defence ministry computers. Classified information, including minutes of crucial meetings and strategies, have reportedly fallen into Pakistani hands, sources said.
The defence ministry, when contacted, said it was “not aware of such incidents.” But a senior home ministry official told this newspaper that after being alerted by the intelligence agencies, the MHA “informed the defence ministry of the hacking and asked them to be vigilant and take precautionary measures.”
The information about the hacking of the MoD’s computers came to light in counter-espionage operations by Indian security agencies. Union home secretary G.K. Pillai held a meeting with joint secretaries on Tuesday and asked them to guard against cyber espionage.
Home ministry officials have been told not to leave their computers unprotected and cautioned “not to open any unknown websites or emails.”
It is learnt that while the intelligence agencies told the MHA that the hacked data was believed to have reached Pakistan, home ministry officials refused to say who or which country was suspected to be behind this.
A few months back defence ministry computers were found hacked by Chinese spies. A group of US and Canadian computer security researchers had exposed a spying operation targeting classified and restricted data from the highest levels of the defence ministry and elsewhere in the government.