NIC Data breach into Email System: Totally Safe And Secure

There has been no cyber breach into the email system of the government, maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), an official release said .

A day after a report alleging that Emails and passwords of hundreds of Union government officials exposed to hackers due to the recent data breaches of Air India, Domino’s, and Big Basket, the Ministry of Electronics and IT refuted such claims.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said there has been no cyber breach into the email system of the Government of India maintained by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). NIC also undertakes user awareness drives from time to time and keeps updating the users about potential risks and safety protocols. The email system is totally safe and secure.

Earlier it was reported that emails on government domains such as @nic.in and @gov.in are potential cyber threats as they are being used by adversaries to send malicious emails to all government users.

The email system is 'totally safe and secure', the Ministry of Electronics and IT said while dismissing a report claiming that data breaches in organisations such as Air India, Big Basket and Domino's had exposed email accounts and passwords of NIC emails to hackers.

In view of this, it is important to clarify that there has been no cyber breach into the email system of the Government of India maintained by the NIC. It further stated that cybersecurity breach on external portals may not impact the users of Government email service unless the Government users have registered on these portals using their official email address and used the same password as the one used in that email account.

"NIC Email system has put in place several security measures such as two-factor authentication and change of password in 90 days. Further, any change of password in NIC Email requires mobile OTP and if the mobile OTP is incorrect then change of password will not be possible," it said, adding that any attempt of phishing using that particular email can be mitigated by NIC.