App for Telangana staff to curb cyber attacks

Hyderabad: In a few weeks’ time, smartphone lessons will begin for nearly two lakh government employees in the state. With cyber attacks becoming the order of the day in the last few years, the administration is leaving no stones unturned to ensure that the IT system remains safe and secure. 

This step is in addition to various cyber security initiatives by the government so that various government websites do not fall prey to hackers’ strategies. A top official from the IT department went on to say recently how Telangana had successfully withstood ransomware attacks like WannaCry recently while other states in India and rest of the world bore the brunt of its impact. 

While making the system and network foolproof, authorities want that the staff officially working on the computers takes all precautions so that there are no breaches from their end. Hence, the decision to sensitize government staff in all 31 districts, officials said. To put this idea into practice, a mobile app has been readied and it is presently in the testing stage.

With governance going digital and increased use of systems and internet for office purposes, this initiative is the need of the hour, authorities felt. This cyber security app will be sending two alerts per day in the form of push notifications on cyber security basics, dos and don'ts, what care should be taken while using e-mail etc. Periodic questionnaires would be sent to assess understanding levels and their performance would be recorded and informed to their heads. 

The idea is to make them learn more about their smartphones, instead of just glancing through simple messages, an official said. 

This app can be used only by government staff because OTP will be sent to their official e-mail ids and each user can download the app only once.