SEBI Lodges FIR In Connection With A Cyber Security Incident Involving Its Email System

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Saturday (July 17) said that it has lodged an FIR in connection with a cyber security incident that involved its email system.

“Recently a cyber security incident has been noticed on the email system of SEBI which was undergoing a system upgrade and accordingly an FIR as per the relevant provisions of law has been filed,” the markets regulators said in a statement. 

An official spokesperson of SEBI told news agency PTI, “It was a small incident. CERT-In (Computer Emergency Response Team) is fully in the loop. No sensitive data was lost. Root cause has been diagnosed and fixed. Prevention for the future has been fully implemented.”

The markets regulator also said that various mitigation measures were immediately taken in the aftermath of the incident. SEBI said that it has already informed CERT-IN and strengthened the required security configuration of the system as part of the protocol. 

“SEBI constantly monitors its detection and prevention systems and has taken additional measures post the incident to tighten the security procedures for the implementation and migration activities,” the statement added. 

This comes more than a fortnight after SEBI directed all stock brokers and depository participants to report all cyber attacks and breaches within six hours of detecting such incidents.

India has seen a rise in cyberattacks in the last few years. Earlier this month, hacker groups from Malaysia and Indonesia initiated a cyber war against India following former BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s comments on Prophet Muhammad.

The hacker groups targeted more than 2,000 websites and leaked the database of Andhra Pradesh police as well as PAN card and Aadhaar details of many indians.

Prior to that in June, a security researcher claimed that the personal details of more than 110 Mn farmers registered on the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) portal were exposed

More than 3.6 Lakh cyberattacks were reportedly launched against Indian oil companies between October 2021 and April 12, 2022. In February 2021, hackers also stole the personal details of more than 4.5 Mn Air India passengers. 

More than 14.02 Lakh cybersecurity incidents were reported to CERT-In last year, according to government estimates. 

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