117 government websites defaced between Jan-June, 2011: Pilot

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday said 117 websites of various departments and agencies were defaced by hackers between January and June this year.

"A total of 117 government websites were defaced during the period January-June, 2011. All the affected organisations and departments were requested to provide web server logs of hacked websites for analysis and identifying the nature and type of attack and vulnerabilities exploited by the hacker," Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Website defacement is a form of malicious hacking, in which the hacker alters the original home page and replaces the site's normal content with a specific political or social message or erases the content from the site.

Based on the analysis, the organisations were advised to take specific steps to strengthen the security of websites, Pilot said.

These steps include an audit of all new government websites and applications, upgrading the security posture of hosting infrastructure and issuing alerts on the latest cyber threats and counter measures.

Pilot said the Indian Computer Response Team (CERT-In) and other agencies regularly review India's preparedness with respect to various cyber-security threats.