Chennai Corporation will get an advanced version of a firewall for its web portal, to protect residents’ data from external attacks and hackers.
Birth and death certificate data and bank account-related information of residents are sensitive and crucial for delivery of civic services online.
The Corporation has floated tenders and the work order is expected to be issued in a few days. According to a senior official, the firewall will be in place 15 days after the issuance of work order.
Starting April, the data of residents will get advanced protection. At present, the Corporation offers various online related services. The existing birth and death database, Greater Chennai Corporation web portal (www.chennai corporation.gov.in), application server of various online services of GCC are all hosted at the existing GCC server room.
“The data is becoming more critical and important in nature. In order to safeguard it, a dedicated firewall was installed 10 years ago. Now we are getting an advanced version of the firewall,” said an official.
“It gives complete protection. Data will be secure. Analyser will check traffic also. We will be proactive in identifying threat to the data,” said an official.
The Corporation Council has recommended a web application firewall so that the traffic is protected from external attacks. The Electrical Department will upgrade to the next generation firewall with web application firewall and analyser, officials said.
The internet usage of GCC officials has increased by leaps and bounds. Many new online services have been launched. The load of the existing firewall has reached its maximum usage capacity which has resulted in performance issues, officials said.