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Journalism of Courage
Three months ago,a technical snag had hit operations at the state-of-the-art T3 terminal at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). It now turns out it was caused by a malicious code sent from a remote location to breach the security at the airport.
A hunt has been launched to nab the perpetrator with the CBI registering a case under the IT Act and IPC. Investigators say that the malicious code was in the form of attack scripts,which means a programme was written by an expert to exploit the systems security weakness.
This forced the airlines to opt for manual check-in and as a result passengers had to wait. There are around 172 CUPPS counters and only a third were functioning online, said an official. The investigation revealed that someone had hacked into the main server of the CUPPS and introduced a virus.
It took nearly 12 hours for the experts from ARINC,Wipro and DIAL to restore the system. The CBI was also called in as officials suspected it was a security breach. We found that there were serious security lapses, said a CBI official.
The agency had also asked for details of records of CUPPS and staff handling the system. Once we receive the details,it will be analysed to see if any official is involved. It appears that someone sitting at a remote location had operated the system. We have registered a case under the IT Act and other relevant section of the IPC, added the CBI official.
Said Guru Prasad Rao,country-head of ARINC: We have lodged a complaint with relevant authorities and are cooperating with all the stake-holders including DIAL. The investigation into the matter is still pending. The US-based firm was given the contract to set up CUPPS at T3 in 2009.
