Lok Sabha Question No. 1804 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-03
Subject: Hacking of Websites
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Sudheer Gupta

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1804

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 03.07.2019

## HACKING OF WEBSITES

## 1804.   SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:   SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:    SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA :

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

- (a)   whether several cases of hacking of websites, belonging to important institutions like MHA etc. have been reported in the country;
- (b)          if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  reaction  of  the  Government  thereto  along  with  the  corrective  steps  taken  by  the Government in this regard;
- (c)      whether the Government has earmarked any agency for quick response to such exigencies;
- (d)      if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the  reasons  therefor  along  with  the  other  corrective  measures  being  taken  by  the Government in this regard; and
- (e)     whether the Government has any action plan/proposes to formulate any action plan to counter such cases in near future and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (e): As per the information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) a total number of 199, 172, 110 and 25 websites of Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments were hacked during the year 2016 , 2017, 2018 and 2019 (till May) respectively.

Government has taken several steps to prevent cyber security incidents and enhancing cyber security in the country. These, inter alia, include :

- (i) Government has established  National Critical  Information  Infrastructure  Protection  Centre  (NCIIPC)  for  protection  of critical information infrastructure in the country, as per the provisions of section 70A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.
- (ii) The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and  countermeasures  on  regular  basis.    CERT-In  has  published  guidelines  for  securing  IT  infrastructure,  which  are available on its website (www.cert-in.org.in).
- (iii) Government  has  issued  guidelines  for  Chief  Information  Security  Officers  (CISOs)  regarding  their  key  roles  and responsibilities for securing applications / infrastructure and compliance.
- (iv) All the government websites and applications are to be audited with respect to cyber security prior to their hosting.  The auditing of the websites and applications are conducted on a regular basis after hosting also.
- (v) Government  has  empanelled  84  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit  implementation  of  Information Security Best Practices.
- (vi) All  organizations  providing  digital  services  have  been  mandated  to  report  cyber  security  incidents  to  CERT-In expeditiously.
- (vii) Government has formulated Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber attacks and cyber terrorism for implementation by all Ministries/ Departments of Central Government, State Governments and their organizations and critical sectors.
- (viii) Cyber security mock drills and exercises are being conducted regularly to enable assessment of cyber security posture and preparedness  of  organizations  in  Government  and  critical  sectors.  43  such  exercises  have  so  far  been  conducted  by CERT-In  where  organisations  from  different  sectors  such  as  Finance,  Defence,  Power,  Telecom,  Transport,  Energy, Space, IT/ITeS sectors participated.
- (ix) CERT-In  conducts  regular  training  programmes  for  network  /  system  administrators  and  Chief  Information  Security Officers (CISOs) of Government and critical sector organisations regarding securing the IT infrastructure and mitigating cyber attacks. 24 trainings covering 845 participants conducted in the year 2018.
- (x) 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.
- (xi) Government  has  set  up  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.

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