Lok Sabha Question No. 1782 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-21
Subject: Cyber Attacks
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Ritesh Pandey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1782

TO BE ANSWERED ON:21.09.2020

## CYBER ATTACKS

## 1782.   SHRI RITESH PANDEY:

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

- (a) the number of cyber-attacks on Indian citizens and India-based commercial and legal entities during each of the last five years;
- (b) whether the Government is aware that India has been identified as one of the top 5 countries with the most number of cyber-attacks, by multiple international and national organizations such as Data Security Council of India, Center for Strategic and International Studies, etc. and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (c) the reasons for high incidence of cyber-attacks in India;
- (d) whether the Government is planning to introduce a new cyber security policy;
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons there of; and
- (f) the  time  by  which  the  said  policy  is  likely  to  be  implemented  and  the  steps  taken  by  the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

(a):  As  per  the  information  reported to  and tracked by  Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), 49455, 50362, 53117, 208456, 394499 and 696938 cyber security incidents are reported during the year 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (till August) respectively.

(b) and (c):  There was a media article in March 2020 by a vendor stating that India has been identified as one of the top 5 countries with the most number of cyber-attacks. Such vendor reports are not validated.

With proliferation in internet and mobile phone usage, there is a rise in number of cyber security incidents in the country as well as globally. Proactive tracking by CERT-In including its Cyber Swachhta Kendra and National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) and improved cyber security awareness among individuals and organisations across sectors has led to increased reporting of incidents.

In  tune  with  the  dynamic  nature  of  Information  Technology  and  emerging  cyber  threats, continuous efforts are required to be made by owners to protect networks and systems by way of hardening and deploying appropriate security controls.

Government  has  taken  following  measures  to  enhance  the  cyber  security  posture  and  prevent cyber-attacks:

- (i) The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) regularly issues alerts and advisories  regarding  latest  cyber  threats/vulnerabilities  and  countermeasures  to  protect computers and networks on regular basis.
- (ii)  Government has issued guidelines for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) regarding their key roles and responsibilities for securing applications / infrastructure and compliance.
- (iii)    Government  has  empanelled  90  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- (iv)   Government has formulated Cyber 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.
- (v)        Cyber  security  mock  drills  are  being  conducted  regularly  to  enable  assessment  of cyber security posture and preparedness of organisations in Government and critical sectors. 49 such drills have so far been conducted by CERT-In where 434 organisations from different States and sectors such as Finance, Defence, Power, Telecom, Transport, Energy, Space, IT/ITeS, etc participated.
- (vi)   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.
- (vii)    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.
- (viii)  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.

(d), (e) and (f):  Public opinion and Stakeholder consultations were taken to draft a National Cyber Security Strategy. The National Cyber Security Strategy is under finalisation.

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