India's cyber security setup in need of drastic overhaul

The WannaCry cyber attack, which affected around 104 countries and paralysed hundreds and thousands of computers, may not have hit India hard.

However, cyber experts are of the view that the "unique attack" could have sabotaged several computers from government and private companies, due to the pitiable cyber security architecture.

Many believe that such attacks could eventually evolve and hacking groups may start targeting India, as the country makes a push towards digitisation.

"The cyber attack was a ransomware attack mounted by hackers with a financial incentive. The hackers deal in crypto currency like Bit Coin, and since India still does not have a lot of crypto currency transactions compared the west, they did not target us," said Pradipto Chakrabarty, Regional Director, Comp Tia.

The WannaCry Malware attack is a cyber attack which exploits the vulnerabilities of a computer system and spreads across all the connected systems.

The hackers behind the attack encrypt all files on the computer and ask the victim to pay a ransom to get the access to the files. The first reported ransom attack was in 1989, with a ransom money of 180 US dollars. By 2015, the ransom attacks mutated into other extensions – such as .cryto and the famous .lacky, which hit four-five Indian companies. In 2016, another ransom ware attack by the extension .cerver was mounted on a Mumbai Police system, in which several files were encrypted by hackers.

Taking stock of the cyber attack, the Indian government had shut down several ATMs across the country as a preventive measure.

However, the response by the Indian government lacks seriousness, said Kislay Chaudhary, a cyber safety and cyber crime analyst.

Chaudhary believes that the cyber security architecture must go through a radical transformation to fend off such attacks. "Such ransomware hacks have been taking place from a long time. The Indian government must take this attack in all seriousness and it must not be a one day hashtag on Twitter. Such hacks may be rectified, but it paralyses the system for days," Chaudhary told Millennium Post.

Experts are of the view that many important systems in central government establishments to private offices are vulnerable to such hacks. "In government offices, every single mail is opened and the malware spreads through all systems. Even the Prime Minister's Office and several top police officials' office can be compromised with such attacks. The anti-virus they use is not capable of fending off such attacks," claimed a highly placed source in the Delhi Police's Cyber Cell.