Ahmedabad: Even after the India-Pakistan ceasefire was declared earlier on Saturday, the Gujarat govt remains on high alert against escalating cyber threats targeting govt systems and assets as well as critical infrastructure like power, civic systems, data centres and financial systems.Officials confirmed a surge in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and phishing campaigns by hacktivist groups. These cyberattacks aim to disrupt networks by overwhelming a target network system, network or service with web traffic, rendering it unavailable to legitimate users — and phishing campaigns.The principal secretary (science and technology) on May 9 issued a circular warning all departments about fake domains, phishing emails, and impersonation on social media. Employees have been advised against posting or sharing official documents, identity cards, or photos from internal meetings.They are also cautioned against clicking on suspicious links, documents, or QR codes. The advisory emphasizes the need for strong, unique passwords, two-factor authentication (2FA), and avoiding linking official emails to personal or third-party apps.”According to a prominent cybersecurity firm Radware report several hacktivist groups were active in cyberattacks targeting central as well state infrastructure since early May. RipperSec emerged as the most active, claiming DDoS attacks followed by AnonSec which had claimed attacks immediately after Operation Sindoor. Keymous+, Sylhet Gang, and Mr Hamza also accounted for a significant portion of the claimed attacks in the days following May 6 and 7,” said a senior govt official.State govt issues advisory Ahmedabad: The state govt has issued an advisory cautioning officials against sharing “opinions, political views, or unverified news that could impact the government’s neutrality or image”. It further added, “Caution is advised before forwarding content in WhatsApp groups or other platforms, with a clear instruction to verify before sharing.” Maintaining professional decorum in all online interactions is also stressed.The advisory encouraged reporting fake profiles, suspicious content, or social media misuse to the cyber security team. Additionally, any suspicious or phishing emails must be immediately reported to the official addresses: socgovteam@gujarat.gov.in, coreteam@gujarat.gov.in, and obssecurity@gujarat.gov.in.tnn