AP Secretariat under cyber attack?

Several computers, including those in CMO hacked

​Velagapudi: Several computers in the AP secretariat, which include those in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), reportedly came under `ransomware’ attack.

According to information, the virus has paraylised operations of some computers in third, fourth and fifth blocks on the Secretariat premises. The personnel having laptops were vary of the attack and used their equipment as a measure against loss of data relating to important files. Files were getting cleared in e-filing mode through the laptops in the last two days, sources said.

It is learnt that the personnel from the IT wing in the secretariat identified the viru
s-hit computers and began changing the hard discs. Initially, the personnel mistook the virus attack for certain server problems and it took some time for them to come to grips with the effect of ransomware.

The day to day functioning relating to data entries and e-filing went unaffected with the help of laptops, it is said. The computers in the CMO located in the first block were linked with the other computers in the remaining four blocks through the local area network (LAN). The virus that initially hit some computers in the other blocks reportedly spread to at least four computers in the CMO.

However, Vijayanand, Principal Secretary, Information Technology, denied the reports telecast on the TV channels suggesting cyber attack on the computers in the Secretariat. “Not a single computer is affected in the secretariat”, he asserted. Vijayanand, however, stated that `preventive’ measures were initiated by an IT team to protect the 1,350 systems in the secretariat.

The preventive measures included blockade of 137, 138, 139 and 445 ports in firewall for both TCP and UDP traffic in both directions; updating latest anti-virus patches to all the desktops against ‘Wannacry Ransomware” as per Microsoft guidelines and scanning all the systems with antivirus.

By: Muni Raju