Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio are reportedly increasing network security to stop any possible cyberattacks by Chinese hackers. The development follows the Indian government and CERT-In’s recent advisories on DDOS and phishing attacks. Chinese hacker groups are targeting telecom companies Reliance Jio, Airtel, BSNL, a Singapore-based cyber threat intelligence firm Cyfirma Research reportedly revealed in its report. Airtel’s security team has already issued an advisory to its enterprise customers and asked them to take proactive steps. The telco said that it has upgraded its SOC to a higher threat-level status for the next 5-7 days. “We have come across media reports on the potential surge in cyber-attacks such as DDoS, Malware attacks, and defacement of websites. We have also witnessed an increase in such Cyber activity during our security operations. These attacks threaten to not only disrupt critical business operations but also impact your brand’s reputation,” Airtel’s security team said. Due to the pandemic, most employees are continuing to work from home, which has further increased their vulnerability to such attacks, particularly phishing attacks, Airtel said in its mail. Organizations need to take the necessary steps to fortify their cyber resilience framework to defend against this looming combination of threats, Airtel said, urging its enterprise clients to take proactive measures such as continuous monitoring of network traffic for all channels.
Airtel asks enterprise to monitor traffic
Airtel has also asked enterprise customers to enable geo-location monitoring for traffic coming from neighbouring countries. Vodafone Idea Limited has also reportedly said that it has appropriately used the intelligence received from the Indian government to increase vigilance and enhance security. Media reports suggest that Reliance Jio has also raised its vigilance levels and is keeping a close watch on traffic. The Maharashtra government has also revealed that Chinese hackers China attempted over 40,000 cyber-attacks on India’s Information Technology infrastructure and banking sector in the last five days. Maharashtra police’s cyber wing reportedly collected information about the hacking attempts and found out that most of them originated from China’s Chengdu area.
