In a concerning development, several Indian government websites continue to be plagued by issues involving malicious redirection to online betting and investment scam platforms. This issue first came to light in May when TechCrunch reported that around four dozen government website links were compromised. The situation has resurfaced this week, bringing attention to the ongoing vulnerabilities in these official websites.
Deedy Das of Menlo Ventures highlighted the widespread nature of the problem on social media platform X, indicating that the issue is more pervasive than previously thought. Despite efforts to address it, many Indian government websites still allow the infiltration of scammy links onto their official domains. Security experts suggest that the root cause may lie in compromised content management systems (CMS) or server configurations that have not been adequately secured.
The security flaw has led to search engines like Google indexing scam links hosted on these government sites, significantly increasing the risk for unsuspecting internet users. TechCrunch’s investigation uncovered over 90 links ending with “gov.in” associated with various government departments and state governments, redirecting users to fraudulent betting and investment sites. Notable affected entities include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, India Post, and state councils of Haryana and Maharashtra.
Government Response and Escalation by CERT-In
The matter was escalated by CERT-In, India’s cyber agency, earlier this year, following initial reports by TechCrunch last year. However, the recurrence of the issue suggests that the measures taken may not have addressed the underlying vulnerabilities.
Security researcher Bob Diachenko commented on the situation, emphasizing that resolving the problem requires more than superficial fixes:
“If only the symptoms (e.g., malicious content) are removed without addressing the root cause (e.g., vulnerability or backdoor), attackers can reintroduce the issue,” – Bob Diachenko
The persistent nature of these malicious redirects highlights a critical area of concern for cybersecurity efforts within government infrastructure. As these scams are hosted on official domains, they pose a heightened risk of deceiving users into falling victim to fraudulent activities.
Author’s Opinion
The continued vulnerability of Indian government websites to malicious redirects is a serious cybersecurity oversight that could have far-reaching consequences. These issues reflect a deeper, systemic problem within government IT infrastructure—one that seems to be patched rather than fully addressed. Simply removing the malicious content without fortifying the underlying security flaws is a temporary fix at best. The use of official government domains to host fraudulent links not only undermines public trust but also puts users at significant risk of falling prey to financial scams. It’s crucial that the government invests in long-term, comprehensive cybersecurity measures that go beyond surface-level patches to secure sensitive infrastructure and protect its citizens from digital fraud.
