BSE asks trading members to take measures to ward off any cyber threat

New Delhi: Leading stock exchange BSE has directed market participants to take precautionary measures on potential "high-impact" cyber-attacks by beefing up security monitoring of the systems with appropriate incident response plans. This comes amid India launching missile attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

In a circular issued on Wednesday, BSE has asked market participants "to take precautionary measures on potential cyber risks, including high-impact cyber-attacks such as ransomware, supply chain intrusions, DDoS attacks, website defacement and malware."

It asked trading members to check if necessary security controls are in place, conduct risk assessment and mitigate any findings, beef up security monitoring of the systems with appropriate incident response plans, and increase threat hunting activities.

These measures are aimed at ensuring a safe marketplace.

This directive comes after an advisory was received from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) highlighting a cyber threat campaign specifically targeting Indian organisations operating within the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector.

On Wednesday, sources had stated that BSE and NSE took precautionary measures by blocking their websites for international users. Apart from exchanges, banks have tightened their cybersecurity network to ward off any cyber threat in the wake of India launching missile attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Moreover, banks have also improved their security at the branches near border areas due to the heightened threat of a counterattack.

In retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes early on Wednesday on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad stronghold of Bahawalpur and Lashkar-e-Taiba's base Muridke.

The military strikes were carried out under 'Operation Sindoor' two weeks after the terrorists killed 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.