Pakistani Hacker Takes Down Goa Government Websites

Several websites of the Goa government were reportedly defaced by a hacker belong to a group of hackers from Pakistan. According to reports, the hackers have targeted the state government websites for the second time in last few years. Among the departments whose sites were compromised are Fire Services, Captain of Ports, Goa Tourism and NRI Commission of Goa.

"Websites belonging to 13 government departments are down. They had been hacked into and defaced, but we have pulled them completely down now," a state government spokesperson is quoted as saying. According to the spokesperson, a complaint will be registered with Goa Police's cyber cell soon.

It's not the first time hackers have targeted the government websites. Back in May, Pakistan-based hackers allegedly defaced Rajasthan Public Service Commission site. The hackers targeted the news section where two links of “Pakistan Zindabad” were posted. However, the site was soon restored after cyber experts were called in.

According to CERT-In, more than 14,000 websites were hacked till October 2012, a significant 57 percent surge since 2009.

Interestingly, the government recently unveiled its National Cyber Security Policy 2013, which envisages providing a secure and robust cyberspace for Indian users including the business and government.

Announcing the new policy, Minister of Communications and IT Kapil Sibal had said: “...policy is a framework document and it gives you a broad outline of what our vision is...the real task or the challenge is the operationalisation of this policy.”

The minister had also stressed on improving cyber security for the critical infrastructure. "...air defence system, power infrastructure, nuclear plants, telecommunications system will all have to be protected to ensure there is no disruption of the kind that will destabilise the economy...instability in cyber space means economic instability no nation can afford economic instability, therefore it is essential not just to have a policy but to operationalise it," Sibal had added.