Hyderabad: Perhaps for the first time, a critical and first-of-its-kind investigation is underway at the Rachakonda police commissionerate to identify hackers who entered the cloud computing system of the government and reportedly stole sensitive data. Though the sleuths are tight-lipped about the incident, it is learnt that the investigation is in the final stages and the police has narrowed down on the suspect.
Cloud computing systems are collections of server and mainframe computers made into a single collective via software that disperses data and computing chores among them. Law enforcement agencies say that the cloud opens a whole lot of possibilities for criminal computing.
Well-informed sources told Deccan Chronicle that this is the first time that such a painstaking investigation pertaining to cloud computing is underway.
“Some persons have stolen sensitive data from the clouds which pertains to a government department and we are on their trail,” an IPS officer, who is aware of the progress in the case, said.
He neither confirmed nor denied when asked whether it was indeed government data that was stolen. “The investigation is in the final stages and it is only a matter of time before we unearth the entire mystery. It is a big case,” was all that the official chose to say.
Officials explained that it is government, corporate and personal finance data including credit card and social security numbers that makes cloud computing attractive for data thieves.
For long, security experts have tried to make the cloud safe but the very nature of the cloud makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to catch wrongdoers. “Rarely do the law enforcement agencies get lucky,” the official said.
Another official said that several mischievous hackers are following critical information, right from family photos to financial information to government and corporate data, which is available in abundance in the cloud computing systems.
“Since cloud computing systems are the places where super-computer quality processing power can be rented, these hackers want to be inside clouds for more reasons than just sensitive data. But some of them play mischief and indulge in cloud crimes,” the official said.
Software not designed for Cloud was used
Perhaps for the first time, a critical and first-of-its-kind investigation is underway at the Rachakonda police commissionerate to identify hackers who entered the cloud computing system of the government and reportedly stole sensitive data. Though the sleuths are tight-lipped about the incident, it is learnt that the investigation is in the final stages and the police has narrowed down on the suspect.
“Inside corporate and government facilities, many clouds are privately owned and controlled. The fastest growing systems are public clouds from firms like Google, Amazon or Microsoft. Clouds share information across many points, both inside their own networks and with external devices like smartphones.
Conventional security precautions such as firewalls that establish a perimeter around a company’s resources are not useful in a cloud. The older software being moved from regular servers to the cloud were not designed for use there, which makes it vulnerable,” the officials explained.
