Cybersecurity researchers claim that India's Health Ministry was targeted by a Russian hacker group known as "Phoenix."
Experts from CloudSEK say that India's Health Ministry website was hacked by Phoenix hackers and they managed to get access to the ministry's Health Management Information System (HMIS).
The Russian hacker group compromised the safety of HMIS and reportedly gained access to the data of all employees and chief physicians of all hospitals in the country.
CloudSEK's digital risk platform XVigil claims that "the motive behind this target was the sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation where Indian authorities decided not to violate the sanctions as well as comply with the price ceiling for Russian oil approved by G7 countries."
"This decision resulted in multiple polls on the telegram channel of the Russian Hacktivist Phoenix asking the followers for their votes." The hackers could sell licence documents and personal information of Indian officials and doctors on the dark web. They could also commit document fraud through the hacked information.
Also read:?Hackers Selling Personal Data Of 150,000 Patients From TN Hospital On Dark Web
Phoenix has been active since January 2022 and is known for phishing scams by luring people via social engineering techniques, then stealing their passwords and accessing their bank accounts. "The group has conducted a series of DDoS attacks against multiple entities in the past," the report stated.
India is not the only casualty of this hacker group. Phoenix has previous attacked hospitals in Japan, the UK, and a military healthcare organisation in the US. Just last year, India's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) fell prey to a major ransomware attack where Chinese involvement was suspected; leading to the compromise of personal data of at least 40 million patients.
Also read:?Hackers Demand Rs 200 Crore In Crypto From AIIMS Delhi As Server Remains Down For 7th Day
What do you think about the growing rate of such attacks - is India ready to counter them? Let us know in the comments below.?For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.??