Hackers steal info from Navy ship

Hackers, who broke into the highly secure naval computer system, stole crucial defence-related information with the help of bugs planted in one of the 39 ships of the eastern fleet of the Eastern Naval Command ( ENC), it is learnt.

Highly placed sources said though the Visakhapatnam headquartered ENC has several units under it, crucial information was taken from standalone computers in one of the ships. The crucial details were nicked using bugs, in the form of a virus, planted in pen drives, it is learnt.

With the Board of Inquiry (BoI) having submitted its report on the case, the Indian Navy is getting ready to initiate action against at least half-a-dozen officers responsible.

The data was reportedly transmitted into pen drives used by the officers, and subsequently sent to specific IP addresses in China, as programmed in the virus.

The Navy stores crucial and sensitive data in computers not connected to the Internet. But documents collected by the virus were sent to those specific IP addresses after the pen drives were used on a computer connected to the Internet, according to the sources.

The ENC has bases from Kolkata to Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. INS Jalashwa, flagship of the eastern fleet, has frigates, destroyers and other categories of ships under it. The indigenously built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and the aircraft carrier, INS Vikrmaditya, are part of the Navy.