Health Ministry Asks CERT-In To Look Into 'Hacking' Attempt Of Its Website By Russian Group

CloudSEK in a report said the group mentioned that the cyber hack is "a consequence of India's agreement over the oil price cap and sanctions of G20 over the Russia-Ukraine war".

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New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry approached the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to probe the reported attempt of hacking of its website allegedly by a Russian hacker group, news agency PTI reported.

"We have sought details and asked the CERT-In to look into the alleged hacking of the health ministry's website. They will submit a report," PTI quoted an official source as saying.

According to reports, a hack was discovered by cyber security experts from CloudSEK who claimed Russian hacker group 'Phoenix' targeted the website and managed to get access to the ministry's Health Management Information System portal and has details of all the hospitals of India, employees and the physicians data.

CloudSEK in a report said the group mentioned that the cyber hack is "a consequence of India's agreement over the oil price cap and sanctions of G20 over the Russia-Ukraine war".

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"The motive behind this target was the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation where Indian authorities decided not to violate the sanctions as well as comply with the price ceiling for Russian oil approved by G7 countries," CloudSEK said, adding, “This decision resulted in multiple polls on the telegram channel of the Russian Hacktivist Phoenix asking the followers for their votes.”

According to CloudSEK, Phoenix has been active since January 2022 and is known for phishing scams, with and a past record of targeting hospitals based in Japan and the UK, US-based healthcare organisation serving the US military and DDoS attack on the website of Spanish foreign ministry, among others.

Notably, CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to incidents related to computer security and provides prevention and response services to government departments and private bodies.