As the news of hacking of social networking profile of Chief Minister Raghubar Das spread like wildfire, the spotlight shifted on to the vulnerability of information technology infrastructure in Jharkhand where various measures are being taken towards digitisation and computerisation in almost every sphere of governance. Although the CM’s account was restored, the IT infrastructure appears too fragile against sophisticated attacks.
Experts who have worked in Jharkhand on IT projects opined that the IT network is not shielded to thwart attempts of hackers who seize information resources. Ironically, the reason is as bizarre as the seriousness of the threat to the security of information network. “It is weak and we are not properly equipped to prevent attacks. Moreover, we have not reached the level to attract hackers towards us. let the State first frame a digitization policy,” said D Nayak who has worked for 20 years in Jharkhand over Government projects and has been involved with National Informatics Centre at Ranchi.
Notwithstanding the ongoing efforts in the direction of creating a robust IT network, the State lacks a data policy, no integrated vision for IT, missing integration and convergence of various networks besides a dedicated team to manage the information network. Even as the State strives to hook on to the National Optic Fiber Network, IT as a facilitator in day-to-day official work is more like imposed from outside than embedded within the system.
“Data is scattered and there is no uniformity in digitization as every department is doing on its own and worse, instead of a large team the IT part is looked by few persons deputed by the department. IT in Government department is more like something which has brought a department under its scope rather than a department bringing IT under its sphere of influence. All these things undermine security and thus pose a threat to IT network,” maintained Nayak.
The glaring apathy with regard to creating even a basic informative website, complete in all respect, also underlines the state of IT infrastructure in Jharkhand. The beta version of the State’s main website (Jharkhand,gov.in) is still incomplete and contains too little information to provide any assistance to a person navigating the website. likewise, most the Government departments do not have their website and those who maintain a website are poor in updating records at regular intervals. Secretary IT and police officials could not be reached for their comments.