Lok Sabha Question No. 1469 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-27
Subject: Evaluation of Online Activities
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: SUKENDER REDDY GUTHA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1469

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 27.12.2017

## EVALUATION OF ONLINE ACTIVITIES

## 1469 SHRI GUTHA SUKENDER REDDY:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a)    whether it  is  a  fact  that  the  Government  is  contemplating  on  finding  a  mechanism to evaluate  online  activities  e.g.  online  terrorists  activities,  net  neutrality  issue,  secure online payments, online data protection and Aadhar Data etc.;
- (b)   if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)   the measures being taken to regulate these activities?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ALPHONS KANNANTHANAM)

(a),  (b)  and  (c):  No,  Sir.  Government  is  not  contemplating  on  finding  a  mechanism  to evaluate  online  activities  such  as  online  terrorists  activities,  net  neutrality  issue,  secure online payments and Aadhaar Data.  However, Government has taken a number of legal, technical and administrative measures to address the issues related to online activities e.g. online terrorists activities, net neutrality issue, secure online payments,  online data protection and Aadhaar Data. These include:

- (i)        Enactment  of  the  Information  Technology  (IT)  Act,  2000  which  has  adequate provisions for dealing with prevalent cyber crimes.
- (ii)        Government  has  established  National  Critical  Information  Infrastructure  Protection Centre (NCIIPC) as per the provisions of Section 70A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 for protection of critical information infrastructure in the country.
- (iii)    The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  issues  alerts  and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and countermeasures on regular basis.  CERTIn  has  published  guidelines for securing  IT infrastructure, which are available on its website (www.certin.org.in).
- (iv) Government has initiated setting up of National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) to generate  necessary  situational  awareness  of  existing  and  potential  cyber  security threats and enable timely information sharing for proactive, preventive and protective actions by individual entities.Phase-I of NCCC has been made operational.
- (v)  Government has formulated Cyber Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber attacks for  implementation  by  all  Ministries/  Departments  of  Central  Government,  State Governments  and  their  organizations  and  critical  sectors.  Regular  workshops  are conducted  for  Ministries,  Departments,  States  &  UTs  and  critical  organizations  to sensitize them about the cyber security threat landscape and enabling them to prepare and implement the Cyber Crisis Management Plan.
- (vi)   Government has launched the Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis  Centre).  The  centre  is  providing  detection  of  malicious  programs  and  free tools to remove the same for banks as well as common users.
- (vii)  Cyber security mock drills are being conducted regularly to enable assessment of cyber security posture and preparedness of organizations in Government and critical sectors. 15 such drills have so far been conducted by CERT-In where 148 organisations from different  states  and  sectors  such  as  Finance,  Defence,  Power,  Telecom,  Transport, Energy, Space, IT/ITeS, etc have participated.
- (viii)  RBI  has  issued  Guidelines  on  cyber  security  for  banks.  RBI  has  also  issued  Master Directions for issuance and operation of prepaid payment instruments.
- (ix)  CERT-In has issued 21 advisories for security safeguards covering Point of Sale (POS), Micro  ATMs,  electronic  wallets,  online  banking,  smart  phones,  unified  payment interface (UPI), unstructured supplementary service data (USSD), RuPay, SIM cards, wireless  access  points/  routers,  mobile  banking,  cloud,  Aadhar  enabled  payment systems (AEPS).
- (x)      Government  has  set  up  a  Committee  of  Experts  under  the  Chairmanship  of  Justice (Retd.) Shri B N Srikrishna to prepare a data protection framework and work out the Data Protection Bill. The Committee has prepared a White Paper on 'Data Protection Framework  for  India'  which  has  been  published  on  Ministry  of  Electronics  & Information Technology (MeitY) website soliciting public comments by 31.01.2018. The White Paper has sought public response and views on all relevant issues including security standards related to protection of personal data.

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