The Union government confirmed that there had been a data breach in BSNL’s systems, and stated that the breach was reported on May 20. According to the government, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported a possible intrusion and data breach at BSNL on May 20, 2024. The government also mentioned that analysis had shown that one File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server contained data similar to the sample data shared by CERT-In. The information was shared by Minister of State for Communications Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani on Wednesday in a written response to a Lok Sabha query by Congress MP Amar Singh.
In a report released in June by the London-based company Athenian Tech, it was stated that a significant amount of sensitive data of BSNL, including International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers, SIM card information, and Home Location Register (HLR) details, had been breached. This data was deemed critical and was said to have provided hackers with access to BSNL's networks, potentially allowing them to clone users' SIM cards.
However, as per the minister, there were no reports of a breach into the Home Location Register (HLR) of the Telecom Network by the Equipment Manufacturer, and thus no service outage in BSNL's network. He also informed that as a remedial measure to prevent such a breach, BSNL has taken steps such as changing access passwords to all similar FTP servers and issuing instructions to maintain an air gap for End Points.
The minister stated that an Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) had been constituted to conduct an audit of the telecom networks and to suggest remedial measures for the prevention of data breaches in the telecom networks.
Meanwhile, BSNL has recently achieved a milestone of 1,000 sites on air this week on July 21 for the 4G saturation project. Additionally, Union Minister of Communications, Jyotiraditya Scindia, recently announced that the government will establish a performance monitoring unit to oversee the rollout of 4G services by the state-run telecom operator BSNL.
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