Uttarakhand News: The Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA) recently faced cyber attacks, which seriously impacted its functionality. The structure of ITDA was revised last year, in which 45 new posts were created. After this, the agency had issued advertisement for recruitment and deputation of 11 experts, but due to non-availability of required applicants, this recruitment process remained incomplete.
At present ITDA is running with the help of only three officers, out of which only one officer is a technical expert. The remaining two officers are an IAS Director and Finance Controller, who have no direct connection with technical expertise.
Despite the posts created after restructuring, shortage of experts has affected the functioning of ITDA. Central agencies also had to face this deficiency during the recent cyber attack. A simple task which could have been completed in 24 hours was completed in three days due to non-availability of experts. In view of this problem, a proposal is now being prepared to revise the structure of ITDA.
IT Secretary Nitesh Jha said that based on the increasing needs of IT, a new proposal is being prepared, which will soon be placed before the Cabinet. Keeping security in mind, necessary measures to prevent cyber attacks will also be included in this new framework.
Another major example of ITDA's infrastructure deficiencies is that Bengaluru-based ITI Limited, which was entrusted with the responsibility of disaster recovery two years ago, has not yet been able to back up ITDA's data. As a result, even the disaster recovery process could not be implemented effectively during the recent cyber attack. Now the IT department has sought help from the Central Government and has requested to hand over the responsibility for disaster recovery to a new agency. Any one of the listed 18 agencies of the Central Government is likely to get this responsibility.
The shortage of experts and staff has raised serious questions on the effectiveness of ITDA. There is a strong need for a new framework to improve the agency's cyber security, technical expertise and disaster recovery, so that such attacks can be effectively dealt with in the future.
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