At a time when all its energy is focused on post-Mumbai diplomacy with Pakistan and the world, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been hit by a cybersecurity nightmare.

Sources have confirmed to The Sunday Express that “several” of its over 600 computers have been infected by “spyware,” a programme that surreptitiously gets installed on a computer to track or take control of the user’s actions.

A detailed investigation is on to determine the damage as initial reports suggest the spyware is linked to a server located in China. Sources said the computers affected include those in the Ministry’s sensitive Pakistan section and in the offices of senior Secretaries and Joint Secretaries.

While the MEA, when contacted, had no official comment, sources said one of the glaring glitches was that each time an email would be sent from an “infected” computer, a copy of it would automatically go to another email ID. The problem was first noticed in the computers of one of the Ministers of State that is usually operated by the Minister’s personal staff.

It was then decided to check all computers and that is when investigators from agencies concerned discovered that the spyware problem was a “large-scale” one. Spyware can do much more than monitor emails — it can even trawl through documents in a computer and relocate them.

As a security practice, each senior MEA official has two computers — one that connects to the Internet and the other for classified official work. This is to ensure that the computer with classified material is never exposed. In all likelihood, officials said, the damage in terms of “sensitive material” being exposed could be limited although its full extent can only be ascertained after the inquiry.

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