CERT-In reported possible intrusion, data breach at BSNL on May 20: Govt

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) had reported possible intrusion and data breach at state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on May 20, 2024, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

An Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been constituted to conduct an audit of the telecom networks and suggest remedial measures for prevention of data breaches in the telecom networks, Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

To a question on data breach in BSNL, the Minister informed that Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported possible intrusion and data breach at BSNL on May 20, 2024.

"The same was analysed and found that one File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server was having the data similar to the sample data shared by CERT-In. No breach into the Home Location Register (HLR) of the telecom network has been reported by the equipment manufacturer, hence no service outage in BSNL's network," he said.

However, as a remedial measure to prevent such probable breach, BSNL has taken steps, and access passwords to all similar FTP servers have been changed.

"Further, an Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been constituted to conduct an audit of the telecom networks and suggest remedial measures for prevention of data breaches in the Telecom networks," Sekhar added.