Reference note no. 35/RN/Ref./July/2017 For the use of Members of Parliament

14 
Cyber Europe 2016
 
On 14th October,2016, EUROPE concluded six months long 'Biggest ever' pan-European cyber-
security exercise on. Engaging 28 EU Member States plus Switzerland and Norway, the fourth 
annual exercise involved thousands of cyber-security experts. It was was inspired by threats to 
critical national infrastructure (CNI), the internet of things (IoT) and cloud computing, using 
threat vectors as diverse as drones, innovative ex filtration methods, mobile malware and 
ransomware. The motto of the exercise is “Stronger Together” and the key to success is 
cooperation at all levels to stymie transnational threats. 
Ransomware attack 
On 16th May 2017 the WannaCry ransomware attack hit about 150 countries globally, including 
Russia and the US. In India, five or six isolated instances were reported in States like Gujarat, 
Kerala and West Bengal; though any substantial disruption to country’s IT backbone was denied 
by the IT Secretary Aruna Sundararajan. 

15 
Events of Cyber Attacks


In 1998, the United States hacked into Serbia's air defense system to 
compromise air traffic control and facilitate the bombing of Serbian targets.

In 2007, an unknown foreign party hacked into high tech and military 
agencies in the United States and downloaded terabytes of information. 

In 2009, a cyber spy network called "GhostNet" accessed confidential 
information belonging to both governmental and private organizations in over 
100 countries around the world.

In October 2010, "Stunext" a complex piece of malware designed to interfere 
with Siemens industrial control systems was discovered in Iran and Indonesia 
leading to speculation that it was a government cyber weapon aimed at Iranian 
Nuclear programme 

July 2011, the US Deputy Secretary of Defense mentioned that a defense 
contractor was hacked and 24,000 files from the Department of Defense were 
stolen. 

In October 2012, the Russian firm Kaspersky discovered a worldwide cyber-
attack dubbed “Red October,” that had been operating since at least 2007.The 
virus 
collected 
information 
from government 
embassies, research 
firms, military installations, energy providers, nuclear and other critical 
infrastructures. 

In a major Cyber-attack in 2012,
hackers advertised details of 117 million 
LinkedIn users on darknet. 

In 2016 Maharashtra Government claimed that railways IRCTC website has been 
hacked. 

On 2nd January,2017 India's elite National Security Guard (NSG) website claimed 
to be hacked by the
Suspected Pakistan-affiliated operatives. 

16 
Glossary of cyber security terms

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