Dehradun – While the entire state celebrated Diwali, the Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA) team was busy thwarting a massive cyberattack attempt by Chinese hackers. On the day of the festival, hackers launched around 2.35 lakh malware-based attacks on the State Data Center — surpassing even the scale of attacks witnessed during Operation Sindoor, which recorded nearly two lakh attempts.
According to officials, the Cyber Emergency Response Team (CERT) worked continuously to neutralize the attacks, ensuring that all government data remained safe. Their proactive monitoring and swift response helped prevent any breach or disruption in state-level online services.
Last year, on October 2, a similar cyberattack had crippled the State Data Center, affecting several departmental websites and forcing the temporary suspension of online services. Despite assistance from the Central Government, it took five days to contain the situation and over three months to fully restore the systems.
To prevent such incidents, ITDA has since developed a decoy “honeypot” data center that mimics the real system. Hackers often target it, allowing CERT experts to detect and counter threats in real time. While cyberattacks are common, ITDA officials noted that the volume of malicious attempts surged significantly during Diwali, but all were successfully blocked using advanced defense mechanisms.
Also Read This – AIIMS Rishikesh and BMJ Partner to Publish ‘Journal of Medical Evidence’
ITDA Director Alok Kumar Pandey stated that continuous measures are being implemented to strengthen cybersecurity infrastructure. “Cyberattacks occur daily, but the volume was exceptionally high during Diwali. Our CERT team effectively neutralized all threats,” he said.
