The Sri Lankan government's ICT agency confirmed a severe data loss incident caused by a ransomware attack affecting government email accounts from May to August 2023. Important government bodies, including the cabinet office, were impacted. The attack compromised the gov. lk email domain, potentially affecting 5,000 email addresses. Critical data was lost due to the absence of offline backups. In response, the ICT agency is implementing daily backups and upgrading security measures. Efforts are underway to recover the lost data. This incident underscores the need for enhanced Cybersecurity, considering previous data losses in Sri Lanka's digital initiatives.
Mr. Asela Waidyalankara was featured in this news to explain what ransomware is and how to prevent these kinds of cyber attacks.
