Dharamsala, Jan 19: India’s National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan said his office and other government departments, including computers in the Prime Minister’s Office, were targeted by hackers believed to be from China, according to a report.
Chinese hackers tried to break into computers in the office of India’s national security adviser and other government departments last month, Narayanan told The Times of London.
“This was not the first instance of an attempt to hack into our computers,” the paper reportedly quoted Narayanan as saying.
Narayanan said his office and other government departments were targeted on 15 December, the same date that US companies reported cyber attacks from China.
He said the attack came in the form of an email with a PDF attachment containing a “Trojan” virus, which allows a hacker to access a computer remotely and download or delete files. The virus was detected and officials were told not to log on until it was eliminated, he said.
“People seem to be fairly sure it was the Chinese. It is difficult to find the exact source but this is the main suspicion. It seems well-founded,” he said, adding that India was cooperating with the US and UK to bolster its cyber defences.
Narayanan, who was on Saturday appointed as governor of the Indian state of West Bengal, on Sunday reportedly confirmed that the cyber attacks on computers in the Prime Minister’s Office, including his own, last month had indeed been directed from China.
He said the email virus had been detected by the Indian system and the attacks were thwarted.
This is not the first time that New Delhi has accused Chinese hackers of trying to break into India’s computer systems. In February last year, the Ministry of External Affairs had reported that several of its computers had been infected by a spyware that had originated from a server located in China.
India has also reportedly placed curbs on the Indian operations of Chinese technology companies like Huawei Technologies. The Indian government recently indicated it has security concerns about the use of telecom equipment from Chinese vendors, particularly in border areas.
