E-mail Addresses of 10,000 Indian Officials Compromised by Cyberattack

Representatives of India’s National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) have revealed at a recent conference that the biggest cyberattack ever to hit the country’s networks took place on July 12, 2012.

The attackers managed to steal more than 10,000 email addresses belonging to officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, external affairs, finance ministries, and intelligence agencies, The Indian Express informs.

Despite the fact that an alert about the cyberattack was issued before the attack, on July 8, the attack could not be prevented.

Among those seriously affected by the incident were paramilitary forces, the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

NTRO representatives claim that state actors are behind the attack, but they’ve failed to name the country they believe to be responsible. However, they described the culprit as someone “inimical to India’s interests.”

An investigation into the matter is ongoing. However, officials have stated that this was a serious case of negligence and they’re trying to determine if insiders were involved.