Over the last year, Maldives has witnessed growing number of cybercrime incidents. Websites of police, government departments and business organizations have been repeatedly targeted by the offenders. Recently, the website of the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) suffered security breach. Security professionals are investigating the alleged intrusion. The website is currently unavailable and Internet security experts are trying to restore the site. Earlier, Dhiraagu, the major telecommunication service provider of the country suffered attacks on its servers. Attackers launched distributed denial -of-service (DDoS) attacks on the company’s servers leading to disruption of services to the customers. Over the last year, the company has faced frequent attempts by cybercriminals to intrude into its servers. Usually, the purpose of attacks on websites is to steal confidential information pertaining to individuals, government, military and business organizations.
Loss of sensitive information compromises the privacy of the affected individuals and may also have financial repercussions. Breach of privileged data related to business organizations and government departments may have adverse strategic, financial and security implications. Leakage of classified military data may pose threat to national security. In this case, Maldivian counter crime agencies have witnessed the involvement of minors, below 18 years of age behind such attacks. The Maldivian police has created a team of specially trained officers to monitor and prevent the growing menace of online crime.
Minors indulge in cybercrime out of curiosity and for amusement. However, the trend could motivate crime syndicates to launch attacks for malicious purposes. Initiation of online computer training programs would encourage constructive use of Internet and IT technologies. The country also needs a cyber law to enable counter crime agencies to bring the culprits to justice. A strong cyber law would also serve as a deterrent to the perpetrators of crime.
Usually, organizations avail the services of ethical hacker certified professionals for identifying and mitigating security flaws. Regular security assessment of the IT infrastructure is crucial to prevent exploitation of vulnerabilities by cybercriminals.
Hiring of IT professionals holding security certifications may help government departments and military agencies in strengthening the defense of the IT infrastructure against frequent intrusions by cybercriminals. Computers holding classified documents must be separated from other computers connected to the Internet. Government agencies must also create cyber security awareness among the general public to prevent them falling prey to devious designs of crime groups.
