Billing for 800,000 affected as ransomware hits power company in Bengal

However, Wannacry has proved less severe than anticipated in Asia

The global Ransomware Attack has affected several computers of a state power distribution company in West Bengal but the central government computer system has largely escaped, officials said on Monday.

State agencies that manage government websites and build supercomputers have installed security patches issued by Microsoft Corp.

Federal Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters that there was no serious impact on India, with only isolated incidents in parts of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh states, and the government was monitoring the situation.

However, West Bengal Power Minister Sovandev Chattopadhyay told Reuters that several billing centres of the state's Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL) had been infected by the ransomware worm.

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"The full extent and magnitude of the problem will be realised by tomorrow," he said, the situation will be very serious if household electricity consumption data from the central server of the utility could not be retrieved beforehand.

A power department official who did not want to be named said billing for around 800,000 households was affected when the ransomware blocked access to files in the computers.

A senior official at the Federal Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said its Computer Emergency Response Team was gathering all possible information about the ransomware. Read more

Swachh Bharat, Skill India 'transformative' schemes: Pranab Mukherjee Edit

Swachh Bharat, Skill India 'transformative' schemes: Pranab Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday hailed the Narendra Modi government's initiatives like Digital India,Swachh Bharat and Skill India as "transformative in nature".

"President of India President Mukherjee believes these programmes are transformative in nature and their successful implementation will alter the landscape of the country," said a reply on Facebook live chat from the President's page, where a question and answer session was organised on the eve of his four years in office.

The replies were made by Venu Rajamony, Press Secretary to the President.

Mukherjee urged Indians to dedicate themselves to the service of the nation.

"Citizens of India should dedicate themselves to the cause of the nation and society through constructive contribution to these programmes in every possible manner," he said in reply to one question.

The President also stressed the importance of teachers, saying: "Teachers are like the soft and skillful hands of a potter. They mould the destiny of thousands of students, in turn shaping the future of a nation."

In another reply, it was said that he "loves teaching and remembers his days as a teacher fondly".

Mukherjee was a teacher in Suri Vidyasagar College of West Bengal before joining politics.

However, the live chat evoked a lukewarm response from some net-savvy citizens who said very casual and "easy" kinds of questions were asked.(more)

West Bengal Assembly Elections 2016

Amid a multi-layered security cover, more than 23% voters exercised their franchise till 9 a.m in 18 constituencies of Left-wing extremism-affected areas in the first phase of West Bengal Assembly election 2016 held today.

Election Commission officials said the polling percentage was 23.4% in the three districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the first two hours.

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There had been no reports of any violence in the districts and polling process was going on smoothly even in the Maoist-hit areas, they said.

Phase 1 of the Elections In West Bengal will decide the fate of 133 candidates, including 11 women, fighting from the 18 constituencies.

Out of them, 13 seats have been classified as LWE-affected areas where voting will end early at 4 p.m due to security considerations.

In the remaining five constituencies of Purulia, Manbazar, Kashipur, Para and Raghunathpur voting will go on for two extra hours till 6 p.m.

The total number of voters in the constituencies are a little over 40 lakh (40,09,171) out of which 20,47,202 are men.

The third gender category list shows only a handful of 16 voters.

There are 4,945 polling stations out of which 1,962 have been classified as critical ones where extra caution is being taken.

Voter Verifiable Audit Trails (VVAT) are made available in 562 polling stations.

Unlike in 2011 Assembly polls where the Trinamool Congress was its partner, Congress this time has forged an alliance with the Left parties.

All the three - Trinamool, Left-Congress alliance and BJP - have fielded candidates in all the 18 seats.

Gobordhan Bagdi is the only one fighting from two seats, Para and Raghunathpur, on a JMM ticket.

In all the Left-wing extremism affected polling stations, the EC has decided to deploy a minimum of one section of force, which has around ten security personnel.

A minimum of three security layers including sector forces and a quick response team have been arranged.

The central forces are present in every polling booth and depending on the requirement the deployment of forces is being increased.

For aerial surveillance, two choppers have been conducting regular sorties to trace any undesirable activity.

Meanwhile, three faulty EVMs were replaced in Taldangra seat in Bankura district, election officials said. While the fault was detected in two EVMs before voting began, and that of another was spotted just after the polling started.