Lok Sabha Question No. 3492 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-22
Subject: Cyber Attacks on Government Websites and Health Institutions
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: K. Muraleedharan, Amar Singh, Adoor Prakash, Vincent H Pala

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3492

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 22.03.2023

## CYBER ATTACKS ON GOVERNMENT WEBSITES AND HEALTH INSTITUTIONS

## 3492.   SHRI K. MURALEEDHARAN:

DR. AMAR SINGH:

ADV. ADOOR PRAKASH:

SHRI VINCENT H. PALA:

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

- (a)  the  details  of  the  total  number  of  cyber  attacks  on  Government  websites  and  health institutions such as public and private hospitals and insurance agencies since 2014, year wise;
- (b) whether the draft National Cyber Security Strategy will include measures for protection of Indian Cyber Security infrastructure to prevent large scale data breaches such as that of 3.8 crore DigiLocker accounts in 2020 or the 110 crore Aadhaar accounts in 2018;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (d)  the  details  of  the  measures  proposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  protect Government websites in particular under the aforementioned strategy?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a):  Government is committed to ensure that Internet in India is Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable for its users and is cognizant of various cybersecurity threats. With emergence of new technology and rise in the usage of Internet, increase in cyber incidents is a global phenomenon.

The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  is  mandated  to  track  and monitor cybersecurity incidents in India. Information reported to and tracked by CERT-In, is as under:

|   Year | Government agencies, institutions and undertakings   |   Websites of Central Ministries/Departments and State Governments | Health institutions   |
|--------|------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|
|   2014 | 3,719                                                |                                                                155 | 561                   |
|   2015 | 4,916                                                |                                                                164 | 887                   |
|   2016 | 5,416                                                |                                                                199 | 935                   |
|   2017 | 33,514                                               |                                                                172 | 1,030                 |
|   2018 | 70,798                                               |                                                                110 | 665                   |
|   2019 | 85,797                                               |                                                                 54 | 1,108                 |
|   2020 | 54,314                                               |                                                                 59 | 2,889                 |
|   2021 | 48,285                                               |                                                                 42 | 1,904                 |
|   2022 | 1,92,439                                             |                                                                 50 | 2,712                 |

(b)  and  (c):    Government  has  undertaken  the  finalisation  of  a  National  Cyber  Security Strategy  (NCSS) that holistically looks at  all  issues  of  security  in  the  national  cyberspace, capture  all  cyber-threat  concerns,  detail  the  mechanism  and  roadmap  for  the  protection  of

India's  digital  assets,  especially  critical  information  infrastructure,  and  capacity  building activities to deal with cyber-attacks.

(d):    The  measures  proposed  to  be  taken  by  the  Government  to  protect  government websites in particular, under the aforementioned strategy are as follows:

- (i) Build and implement a comprehensive risk profile, assessment, management and maturity  index  framework  for  all  critical  functions  and  processes  in  critical sectors;
- (ii) Create  a  reference  framework  for  secure  software  and  hardware  development adopted by government and industry alike;
- (iii) Establish a National Threat Exchange and build a National Cyber Risk Registry;
- (iv) Create  a  National  Bug  Bounty  Programme  in  close  support  and  coordination with the industry; and
- (v) Mandate various agencies to audit websites.

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