10 days after Pak hacking attack, CBI website not accessible

The website of the agency which collapsed after being attacked by hackers identifying themselves as "Pakistani Cyber Army" on the night of December two is still not operational, causing major embarrassment to the CBI.

The experts of the CBI and National Informatics Centre who are trying to bring back the website to normal are finding the job too complicated because of software programmes used by the hackers, official sources said.

The experts are also looking at any possible worms or programmes that might have infested the systems of the agency and which may make them vulnerable to being tracked by hackers again, they said.

The sources said efforts are on to incorporate more security features to prevents any such attacks in future.

When contacted, officials of the agency refused to react on the developments.
The home page of the CBI website had a message from the 'Pakistani Cyber Army' warning the Indian Cyber Army not to attack their websites.

The hackers have made a mockery of the country's cyber security by infiltrating into the CBI website, supposed to be one of the most secured sites. The CBI is connected to the command centre of world police organisation -- Interpol -- 24x7.

The message from the hackers also spoke about the filtering controls provided by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), a body which mans computer servers across the country.

Intelligence agencies have been often warning the government that proper cyber security was not being ensured in government offices and that no security audit was being carried out.

The Pakistani Cyber Army has also warned that it would carry out "mass defacement" of other websites.