"There will be no internet shut down in India," said Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator
Highlights
- Reports suggested network failure due to maintenance work
- Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, refuted the reports
- "All arrangements are in place," he said
After reports suggested that internet users across the globe may experience widespread network failures over the next 48 hours, a top government cyber security coordinator emphasized today that there will not be any internet shutdown in India.
"All arrangements are in place and there will be no internet shutdown in India as is being circulated in the media," Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator, told NDTV.
News agency ANI had quoted the portal Russia Today as reporting that key domain servers would be down because of routine maintenance work over the next two days, which could result in internet users facing difficulties in accessing web pages or making any transactions in the next 48 hours.
The ANI report said the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) would carry out the maintenance work by changing the cryptographic key that helps protect the internet's address book or the Domain Name System (DNS). This has been necessitated to counter rising incidents of cyberattacks, ICANN was quoted as saying.
When NDTV reached out to ICANN, it clarified that the original report's headline is "click bait", and that there would be minimum impact to users.
"Unfortunately, that story carries a headline that is a click bait. There will be minimal impact to users. Note that data analysis suggests that more than 99% of users whose resolvers are validating will be unaffected," an ICANN spokesperson from Singapore told NDTV.
"It has been about 20 hours since the rollover and based on all information we have, everything is going smoothly. There have been only a small handful of reports of issues suspected to be caused by the rollover. In all cases it appears the impact was minor and the issues were quickly resolved," the spokesperson added.
The ANI report had the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) saying that the global internet shutdown was necessary for ensuring a secure, stable and resilient Domain Name System. "To further clarify, some internet users might be affected if their network operators or Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have not prepared for this change. However, this impact can be avoided by enabling the appropriate system security extensions," it said.
With inputs from ANI