New Delhi: People outside India will not be able to access the Rajya Sabha website at least until mid-October, but the Lok Sabha site is still not blocked, even though it is supposed to be.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh was the first to reveal this information, in a late evening tweet Thursday.
“I have been receiving emails from students abroad that Rajya Sabha website can’t be accessed. On checking I’m informed both LS & RS websites have been geofenced for a month, till mid-October, due to ‘continuous suspicious attacks’, and therefore can be accessed only from India,” he wrote.
I have been receiving emails from students abroad that Rajya Sabha website can't be accessed. On checking I’m informed both LS & RS websites have been geofenced for a month, till mid-October, due to ‘continuous suspicious attacks', and therefore can be accessed only from India.
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 24, 2020
Speaking to ThePrint, Ramesh insisted that both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha sites were blocked in other countries, without sharing the source of his information.
An official of the National Informatics Centre (part of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), which hosts the websites and provides technical services, also said both sites had been restricted for about a month, due to “internal security reasons”, adding that the reasons were not related to any cyberattacks on the sites.
National Cyber Security Coordinator Lt Gen. (Dr) Rajesh Pant said he was “not aware” of any cyberattacks on the sites.
A source in the IT ministry said many cases of suspect accesses of the two websites and the Rajya Sabha Members’ Portal were reported by the Network Security Division. Some of these were from Korea, China, Japan and Spain. The source added that as an immediate temporary measure, with the due approval of both the Houses’ secretariats, geo-fencing was implemented for a period of one month.
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Lok Sabha site still accessible
According to screenshots sent by an internet user in Sri Lanka, the Lok Sabha site is still accessible, but the Rajya Sabha site is not. The Sri Lankan user accessed the sites on the night of 24 September.
Screenshots shared by an internet user in Australia also showed the Lok Sabha site can be accessed but the Rajya Sabha site cannot. The Australian user accessed the sites in the afternoon (India time) on 25 September.
A second NIC official said orders had been issued to block both the websites, and was unsure why the Lok Sabha site is accessible now when it wasn’t a few days ago.
The official said the block on the sites was ordered in mid-September, is set to continue until mid-October, and could be extended.
ThePrint sent emails to the web information manager for the Lok Sabha, and the IT section of the Rajya Sabha, asking for confirmation on the blocks, the reason for it, its duration and why the Lok Sabha site is still accessible. This report will be updated when they respond.
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(This report as been updated with new information from IT ministry sources)