Uttarakhand website down: In response to the prolonged shutdown of government websites in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami instructed officials to set up a cyber task force to prevent similar incidents in the future. Dhami emphasised the need to restore all government websites, especially those linked to public welfare, by Monday.Since Wednesday evening, a total of 186 state department websites have been down for over 60 hours, following the detection of malware by the Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA). By Saturday evening, important websites, including the CM Helpline and Uttarakhand Police, had been restored.Focus on strengthening cybersecurityIn a meeting with IT Secretary Nitish Jha, Director General of Police Abhinav Kumar, and ITDA officials, Dhami pushed for the creation of a disaster recovery centre to safeguard government data from potential future cyberattacks. He also stressed the need for collaboration with central government agencies to enhance the security of the states data centres. An investigation into ITDAs operations was also proposed, with action to be taken in case of any negligence.According to IT Secretary Nitish Jha, 11 of ITDAs 1,378 machines were found to be infected with malware. Multiple deep scans are being conducted to secure the data centre and restore operations. Meanwhile, the state is considering relocating its Uniform Civil Code (UCC) website to Delhi for enhanced security.Phased restoration of government websitesITDA Director Nitika Khandelwal confirmed that websites are being restored in phases after thorough virus scans. “Fortunately, no data was lost, and we are actively investigating the malwares source for potential legal action,” Khandelwal stated.
