Lok Sabha Question No. 4694 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-24
Subject: Cyber Attack by Chinese Agencies
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Rajendra Dhedya  Gavit, Subrata Pathak, Ravindra Kushawaha, Ravi Kishan Shukla, Sudheer Gupta, Shrirang Appa Barne, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Bidyut Baran Mahato, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4694

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 24.03.2021

## CYBER ATTACK BY CHINESE AGENCIES

## 4694.    SHRI RAJENDRA DHEDYA GAVIT:   SHRI SUBRAT PATHAK: SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA: SHRI RAVI KISHAN:  SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:   SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE: SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:   SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:  SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a)    whether  cases  of  cyber  attacks  by  Chinese  malware  agencies  on  India's  power  grid  and  Covid-19  vaccine manufacturing companies recently have came to the notice of the Government recently and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto and steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (b) whether the Government has carried out any investigations in various such cyber attacks in the recent past and if so, the details and the outcome thereto;
- (c) whether there is any international agency where such cyber crime cases are reported and investigated and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d)  whether the Government has raised such cases before the aforesaid agency so far and if so, the details thereof and the response received by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a) and  (b) The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is serving as national agency for responding to cyber security incidents as per provisions of Section 70B of Information Technology Act, 2000. CERT-In receives inputs  from  its  situational  awareness  systems  and  threat  intelligence  sources  about  malware  infections  and vulnerabilities in networks of entities across sectors and issues alerts to concerned organisations and sectoral CERTs for remedial measures. It has been observed that attackers are compromising computer systems located in different parts of the world and use masquerading techniques and hidden servers to hide the identity of actual systems from which the attacks are being launched.

Alerts and advisories are issued to key organisations and sectoral CERTs for taking response and preventive measures against emerging cyber attacks.

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

- i.       The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) 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. 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 is conducted on a regular basis after hosting also.
- iv. Government  has  empanelled  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit  implementation  of Information Security Best Practices.
- v. Government  has  formulated  Cyber  Crisis  Management  Plan  (CCMP)  for  countering  cyber  attacks  for implementation  by  all  Ministries/  Departments  of  Central  Government,  State  Governments  and  their organizations and critical sectors.
- vi. Cyber security mock drills are being conducted regularly in Government and critical sectors.
- vii. 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.
- viii. Government is  operating  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.
- ix. Government has set up the National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) to generate necessary situational awareness of existing and potential cyber security threats.  Phase-I of NCCC is operational.
10. (c) and  (d): No such information is available with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).

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