MoRTH alerted on cybersecurity intrusion on transport sector
1 min read 21 Mar 2021, 09:50 PM IST'The Ministry has advised departments and organisations under (the) transport sector to strengthen the security posture of their infrastructure,' highways ministry said
PremiumNew Delhi: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) on Sunday said that it has received an alert on targeted intrusion activities directed towards the transport sector, a fortnight after an US firm alerted Indian officials about an attempt by Chinese state-sponsored hackers into the network system of an Indian port.
"(The) Ministry of Road Transport and Highways received an alert from CERT-In regarding targeted intrusion activities directed towards Indian Transport sector with possible malicious intentions," the ministry said in a statement.
"The Ministry has advised departments and organisations under (the) transport sector to strengthen the security posture of their infrastructure," it added.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is a department under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
"Accordingly, NIC (National Informatics Centre), NHAI(National Highways Authority of India), NHIDCL(National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited), IRC, IAHE (Indian Academy of Highway Engineers), State PWDs (Public Works Department), Testing agencies and Automobile manufacturers have been requested to conduct the security audit of the entire IT system by CERT-In certified agencies on a regular basis and take all actions as per their recommendations," it said.
"The audit report and the ATR (are) to be regularly submitted to the Ministry," it added.
Bloomberg had earlier in March reported that at least one connection opened by Chinese state-sponsored hackers into the network system of an Indian port remains active, even as authorities block attempts to penetrate the country's nation’s electrical sector, quoting US cyber security firm Recorded Future.
The news agency further added Chinese hackers group RedEcho had targeted as many as 10 entities under India’s power grid as well as two maritime ports when the company first notified India’s Computer Emergency Response Team on 10 February, according to Recorded Future.
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