In light of the rising threat of cyberattacks, cybersecurity measures for the upcoming Mahakumbh have significantly been enhanced. Major event and institution websites are frequently targeted by anti-social and anti-national elements aiming to deface homepages, spread their messages, crash websites, and create embarrassment for the governing bodies.
A team of experts from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, along with a specialist from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A), have partnered with UP police officials to enhance cyber security, said Tanu Upadhyay, CO (Cyber), Mahakumbh-2025 Mela.
A four-member team from IIT-Kanpur and an expert from IIIT-A are stationed in the mela area to assist 180 UP Police personnel, who have undergone special training by the National Cybercrime Training Centre (CyTrain).
“While we focus on preventing and combating cybercrime within the mela area, a team at UP Police Headquarters in Lucknow, led by ADG (Cybercrime) Binod K Singh, oversees all aspects of virtual and cybersecurity,” Upadhyay added.
Officials explained that cybercriminals often target the websites of major events like Mahakumbh-2025 to disrupt the functioning of the event, cause embarrassment to the government, and defraud people using the event’s name.
“As the Mahakumbh-2025 is being promoted as a major global event by both the Indian and Uttar Pradesh governments, ensuring the security of its websites, apps, and other digital platforms is of utmost importance. We are maintaining constant vigilance,” said SSP (Mela) Rajesh Dwivedi.
{{/usCountry}}“As the Mahakumbh-2025 is being promoted as a major global event by both the Indian and Uttar Pradesh governments, ensuring the security of its websites, apps, and other digital platforms is of utmost importance. We are maintaining constant vigilance,” said SSP (Mela) Rajesh Dwivedi.
{{/usCountry}}The Mahakumbh website—https://kumbh.gov.in/—along with its hosting server and mela mobile applications, has been audited by various expert agencies. These include the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) by the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NIIPC), a unit of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).
To protect the communication network, electronic, and cyber infrastructure of Mahakumbh from cyberattacks such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, ransomware, port scanning, etc., measures such as IP monitoring, network firewalls, and other security protocols are in place. These are being monitored by the Telecom Security Operation Centre (TSOC) of the Department of Telecom (DOT), officials revealed.
Additionally, a vulnerability audit was conducted by experts from IIIT-Allahabad to assess the cybersecurity of software, web applications, and other digital services provided by private companies at Mahakumbh-2025. The improvements identified from this audit have been implemented for enhanced cybersecurity.
So far, 78 suspicious websites have been flagged by the cyber cell. After technical and physical verification, seven fake websites were taken down. Cases have been registered against five fake websites at the Cyber Crime Police Station in Prayagraj, and four individuals, residents of Varanasi, Azamgarh (UP), and Nalanda (Bihar), have been arrested.