ICAR data breach: Head of institute replaced 3 days before end of term, Pg1.

Key Highlights:

• ICAR removed the director of the Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute (IASRI), Rajendra Prasad, three days before his term ended, following a cyber attack that led to data loss.
• Two Principal Scientists, Sudeep Marwaha and K K Chaturvedi, associated with IASRI, have also been transferred.
• A high-level committee investigated the data breach that occurred in March 2025, affecting ICAR's website and servers.
• CERT-In has initiated an inquiry into the breach, which involved the removal of a significant amount of data from the main and replication servers.

Detailed Insights:

• The data breach affected data related to the Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board (ASRB), NAARM, and IASRI, including recruitment information, project details, and email communications.
• The inquiry committee's report in mid-August detailed alleged negligence that caused the breach, impacting ICAR's website, its server in Delhi, and its replication server at NAARM in Hyderabad.
• The IASRI data center, inaugurated in December 2016, provides tech infrastructure for web applications developed by ICAR institutes across the country.
• IASRI's IT unit was created to manage all ICT related work, running parallel to the institute's Computer Applications division, with both heads reporting to Prasad.
• ICAR is committed to ensuring data security in the national interest and is taking necessary steps based on the high-level committee's report.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Cyber Attack: An attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer system or network with malicious intent.
• Data Breach: A security incident in which sensitive, protected, or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen, or used by an individual unauthorized to do so.
• ICT (Information & Communication Technology): Technologies that provide access to information through telecommunications.