{"id":3549,"date":"2025-02-18T10:47:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T10:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawentranceindia.com\/blogs\/?p=3549"},"modified":"2025-02-18T10:47:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T10:47:19","slug":"mlc-daily-current-affairs-18-february-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawentranceindia.com\/blogs\/mlc-daily-current-affairs-18-february-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"MLC Daily Current Affairs – 18 February 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today in History (February 18th<\/sup>,1836)<\/h1>\n

Ramakrishna Paramhansa (18 February 1836 \u2013 15 August 1886), was a great saint and thinker of India. He emphasized the unity of all religions. He believed since childhood that God can be seen. Therefore, he spent a life of rigorous spiritual practice and devotion to the attainment of God. Ramakrishna was a priest of humanity. As a result of his spiritual practice, he concluded that all the religions of the world are true and there is no difference in them. They are just different means of reaching God. He was born on 18 February 1836 in Kamarpukur Village, Hooghly District, West Bengal.<\/p>\n

Summary of Today’s News<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gyanesh Kumar Appointed the Chief Election Commissioner of India<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"
\n\u2022 Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after a meeting of a three-member committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
\n\u2022 He will take office on Wednesday, the same day the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to the new law under which this selection occurred.
\n\u2022 Haryana Chief Secretary Vivek Joshi was also appointed Election Commissioner.
\nCongress Objection:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 The Congress party asked for the panel meeting to be adjourned until Wednesday due to the Supreme Court hearing.
\n\u2022 The party raised concerns over the new law, claiming it creates a \u201cpartisan\u201d and \u201cnon-neutral\u201d mechanism for the selection of Election Commissioners.
\n\u2022 Congress emphasized that the new law violated a March 2023 Supreme Court ruling that mandated a selection panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition (LoP), and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).
\nBackground of Gyanesh Kumar:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Gyanesh Kumar, a 1988-batch former IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, retired as Union Cooperation Secretary on January 31, 2024, and was appointed Election Commissioner on March 14, 2024.
\n\u2022 He was the senior-most Election Commissioner under his predecessor, CEC Rajiv Kumar.
\nCongress Leader’s Reaction:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attended the meeting but left after submitting written objections.
\n\u2022 Gandhi was absent during the discussion of names for the CEC role.
\n\u2022 Congress sources claim that Gandhi\u2019s written objections were submitted.
\nSelection Under New Law:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 This is the first time a CEC has been appointed under the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023.
\n\u2022 Prior to this law, the President appointed the CEC and Election Commissioners based on government recommendations.
\nLegal Context:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 The new law followed a March 2023 Supreme Court judgment that mandated a selection panel with the Prime Minister, LoP, and CJI.
\n\u2022 However, the law replaced the CJI with a Union Minister, giving the government a more dominant role in the selection process.
\nRajiv Kumar\u2019s Farewell Address:<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Rajiv Kumar, the outgoing CEC, emphasized the need for empowering NRIs to vote remotely and suggested biometric authentication at polling booths to reduce impersonation.<\/p>\n

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack<\/span><\/h3>\n

Context: <\/strong>
\nKaveri 2.0 Portal: A web-based platform for property registrations in Karnataka, launched in 2023. In January 2025, the portal faced significant outages that disrupted its operations. Cause: Investigations revealed that these outages were caused by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack rather than technical issues.<\/p>\n

Aftermath of the Attack<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Complaint Lodged: K. A. Dayananda, Inspector General of Registrations and Commissioner of Stamps (IGR & CS), filed a complaint with the cyber-crime police.
\n\u2022 Case Filed: The Cybercrime, Economic Offences, Narcotics (CEN) police initiated a case under the Information Technology Act, 2000 against the unknown attackers.<\/p>\n

What is a DDoS Attack?<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u2022 Definition: A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it with excessive internet traffic.
\n\u2022 Difference from DoS: Unlike a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, which uses a single source, a DDoS attack utilizes multiple compromised systems (a botnet).
\n\u2022 Consequences: DDoS attacks can:
\n\u2022 Saturate bandwidth and exploit network protocol weaknesses.
\n\u2022 Cause service downtimes, disrupt operations, and potentially result in revenue loss.
\n\u2022 Serve as distractions while other cyberattacks, like data breaches, may be executed.
\n\u2022 Damage the reputation of organizations as customers may question their ability to safeguard against such threats.<\/p>\n

Impact of the DDoS Attack on Kaveri 2.0<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Performance Issues: Kaveri 2.0 experienced problems during December 2024 and January 2025, with fake accounts created to flood the system.
\n\u2022 Attack Details:
\n\u2022 62 email accounts and 14 IP addresses were involved in the attack, showing its distributed nature.
\n\u2022 January 2025: A surge in traffic for Encumbrance Certificate (EC) searches occurred, which was eight times higher than usual.
\n\u2022 The portal received 6.2 lakh requests in just two hours, leading to a complete system breakdown and decreased registrations.
\nMitigation Strategies for DDoS Attacks<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Traffic Filtering: Implement advanced systems to differentiate between legitimate and malicious traffic.
\n\u2022 Monitoring Tools: Use tools to identify abnormal traffic patterns and act preemptively.
\n\u2022 Rate Limiting: Set limits on the number of requests a user can make in a given timeframe to prevent overload.
\n\u2022 Bot Detection: Utilize technologies like CAPTCHA challenges and behavioural analysis to block bots.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Security Audits: Regular audits and strong authentication methods help enhance security.
\n\u2022 Collaboration: Organizations should work with cybersecurity agencies to investigate attacks and improve future protection strategies.
\n\u2022 User Education: Teaching users about phishing and social engineering can prevent account compromises.<\/p>\n

Notable DDoS Attacks<\/strong>
\n1. X (Formerly Twitter):
\n\u2022 In August 2024, X faced a major DDoS attack, causing delays and disruptions, just before a scheduled conversation between Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump.
\n2. GitHub (2015):
\n\u2022 A China-based botnet targeted Microsoft-owned GitHub, specifically aiming at projects that helped circumvent Chinese censorship.
\n\u2022 The attack involved injecting malicious JavaScript code into the browsers of visitors to Baidu and other sites using its analytics services.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong>
\n\u2022 A DDoS attack floods a server with excessive traffic, disrupting its normal operations.
\n\u2022 Following the attack, Kaveri 2.0 faced significant registration disruptions, with services down for a period.
\n\u2022 The restoration of the portal on February 5 signals the need for improved cybersecurity measures across organizations, especially government platforms.<\/p>\n