New Delhi: Days after targeting the websites of Delhi AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital, a group of hackers allegedly tried to hack the website of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). According to reports, ICMR’s website was attacked about 6000 times in a day. Quoting government officials, sources said that hackers from Hong Kong tried to attack the Indian Council of Medical Research website nearly 6000 times in a span of 24 hours on 30 November.
However, the attempt by Chinese hackers to hack the website of the apex health research body failed, sources said. He added that the ICMR website could not be hacked due to the updated firewall and security measures enhanced by the apex medical body.
“The content of the ICMR website is secure. The site is hosted at NIC data centre, so the firewall is from NIC which they update regularly. The attack has been successfully prevented,” the official said.
ICMR website is secure. The site is hosted in NIC data center, firewall is from NIC and is updated regularly. NIC was informed about the cyber attack via email and has reported that the attack was prevented. ICMR website found in order: Official sources pic.twitter.com/gp0A3w03e1
– ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2022
The attacks followed an alleged ransomware attack that paralyzed the online services of AIIMS here. The IP address, a unique address that identifies a device on the Internet, was traced to a blacklisted IP located in Hong Kong.
Delhi’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences was hit by a ransomware attack last month, affecting almost all sections of the hospital. AIIMS Delhi’s servers were down for more than 10 days, showing the gravity of the attack, affecting several services at the hospital.
On 4 December, Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, which is opposite AIIMS, also faced a cyber attack, but the damage was not as severe as compared to the attack on AIIMS. Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital, Dr. BL Sherwal said, “There was a cyber attack. Even in November our server was down for a day but the data was safe. It was handled by IT, the National Informatics Center (NIC), which revamped the system.
Sherwal further said that the cyber attack was not ransomware. Another hospital official said that the IP had been blocked.
(with agency inputs)