Lok Sabha Question No. 476 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-05
Subject: Cyber Crimes
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: L.S. Tejasvi Surya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.476

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 05.02.2020

## CYBER CRIMES

## 476.   SHRI L.S. TEJASVI SURYA:

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

- (a)    whether  the  Government  has  undertaken  wide-scale  campaigns  to  make  public  aware about cyber threats like data theft, phishing and ransomware attacks and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)    whether  the  Government  has  maintained  State-wise  data  on  effectiveness  of  these campaigns in reducing cybercrimes and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c)  whether the Government proposes to introduce a 24x7 nationwide cyber security helpline number to specifically deal with cyber crimes and if so, the details thereof??

## ANSWER

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

(a) and (b): 'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects as per the Constitution of India. States/UTs are primarily responsible for prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of  crimes  through  their  law  enforcement  machinery.  However,  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs (MHA) supports State Government initiatives through the various schemes and advisories. Government has taken a number of legal, technical and administrative measures to prevent cybercrimes.  These inter alia , include:

- (i) To  spread  awareness  on  cybercrime,  MHA  has  taken  several  steps  that  include dissemination of messages on cybercrime through MHA Twitter handle @cyberDost,  radio  campaign,  publishing  of  Handbook  for  Adolescents/Students, publishing of 'Information Security Best practices' for the benefit of Govt. Officials/ Officers. Organizing of cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks, in association with police department in different States/Uts etc.
- (ii) To prevent such crimes and to speed up investigation, MHA has taken several steps to  spread  awareness  about  cyber  crimes  issue  through  alerts/advisories,  capacity building, training of law enforcement personnel/prosecutors/judicial officers, improving cyber forensics facilities etc. MHA has also launched an online national cyber  crime  reporting  portal,  (www.cybercrime.gov.in)  to  enable  complainants  to report complaints pertaining to all types of cyber crimes with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children.
- (iii) The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  has  provisions  to  deal  with  prevalent cybercrimes.
- (iv) Ministry  of  Electronics  &  Information  Technology  has  approved  a  project  on Information  Security  Education  and  Awareness  (ISEA)  Project  Phase  II,  which inter-alia includes a component of creating mass awareness on Information Security. Under  this  activity,  so  far  1,046  half  day  awareness  workshops  on  information security  have  been  organized  across  the  country  for  various  user  groups  covering 1,36,937  participants.  As  a  part  of  these  workshops,  various  topics  including  data theft,  phishing,  ransomware  attacks,  etc.  were  covered.  In  addition,  awareness handbooks were distributed as a part of these workshops to disseminate information and  tips  on  safe  use  of  internet,  which  inter-alia  includes  a  chapter  on  phishing attacks covering general overview, techniques, tips for recognizing phishing messages  and  some  do's  &  don'ts.  Awareness  material  in  the  form  of  handbook, posters,  brochures,  newsletter,  videos,  etc.  w.r.t.  phishing/ransomware  have  been also made available for download on the website www.isea.gov.in and www.infosecawareness.in. Besides this, 5 one-hour programs on cyber security/cyber-crime  awareness  have  been  broadcast  through  Doordarshan  (DD) Yadagiri (covering Telangana/Andhra Pradesh), DD Karnataka and DD Odisha.

(c):  National  Cyber Crime Reporting Portal,  www.cybercrime.gov.in has been launched to enable citizens to online report complaints pertaining to all types of cyber crimes with special  focus  on  cyber  crimes  against  women  and  children.  Complaints  reported  on  this portal  are  attended  by  the  respective  Law  Enforcement  Authorities  of  States.  A  nationwide helpline number [155260] is also made functional to help public in filing complaints through the portal.

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