Ministry of civil aviation hit by data theft, Internet usage gets tougher for officials

NEW DELHI: Using Google or looking up the Internet to study global best practices is now out of bounds for civil aviation ministry mandarins, if they intend to use the same computing device to draft and store official policies or documents.

The ministry has decided to make it tougher for officials to use the internet while at work after it identified instances of sensitive data being stolen from its computers by malware as well as people gaining unauthorized access to these machines.

A circular on measures to protect sensitive official data, sent by the aviation ministry to its officials last week, says that they must adhere to new norms ‘in order to stop unauthorised access and compromise by data stealing malware in the (ministry’s) computer systems.’

"Internet connected computers should not be used for drafting or storing sensitive official documents and correspondence. Usage of USB computer storage media should be regulated," it said, adding that users must increase their awareness about cyber security measures.

The aviation ministry’s security alert, officials said, may be a little difficult to implement as they may need two separate PCs for browsing the Internet and official work.

But they agreed with the need to strengthen data protection practices, in light of the recent instances of several government websites crashing for hours at a stretch and the NDA government’s increasing reliance on social media platforms to communicate its work to the people.

Officials have been asked to study the government’s cyber security policies issued in 2010 and 2013, according to which a cyber-related event of national importance could cause extensive damage to information infrastructure and key assets in any form – from an organized attack to an uncontrolled computer worm, virus or malicious software code.

"Cyberspace is vulnerable to a wide variety of incidents, whether intentional or accidental… and the data exchanged in the cyberspace can be exploited for nefarious purposes by both nation-states and non-state actors. Large-scale cyber incidents may overwhelm the government, public and private sector resources and services by disrupting critical information systems," the 2013 cyber security policy notes, adding that such disruptions may threaten lives, economy and national security.