Lok Sabha Question No. 2487 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-15
Subject: Cases of Cyber Fraud
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Aparajita Sarangi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2487

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 15.03.2023

## CASES OF CYBER FRAUD

## 2487.   SHRIMATI APARAJITA SARANGI:

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

- (a)  the  details  of  cyber  attack  cases  received  and  the  number  of  cases  disposed  of  by  the Government;
- (b) the details of minimum and maximum days or time needed to solve such cases;
- (c) whether the Government has taken any step for faster resolution and reduction in time and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the details of cases resolved which involved trans national nature of cyber attack; and
- (e) whether the Government has initiated any scheme for awareness for cyber fraud and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (c): As per the information reported to and tracked by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total of 14,02,809 and 13,91,457 cybersecurity incidents were reported for the years 2021 and 2022 respectively. CERT-In  notifies the affected organisations  along  with  remedial  actions  to  be  taken,  and  coordinates  incident  response measures with affected organisations, service providers, respective sector regulators and law enforcement agencies.

CERT-In has apprised that, depending upon the type and scale of cyber-attack and the assets affected,  the  containment  of  the  cybersecurity  incident,  remedial  measures  and  detailed analysis take one day to a few months.

CERT-In has further informed that it has taken measures to enable organisations to prevent and  respond  to  cybersecurity  incidents  in  a  timely  manner,  by  sending  proactive  threat intelligence alerts and conducting mock drills and training programmes.

(d):  There  have  been  attempts  from  time  to  time  to  launch  cyber-attacks  on  Indian  cyber space from systems within and outside the country. 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.

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  the  organisations  and  sectoral  Computer  Security  Incident  Response Teams  (CSIRTs)  concerned  for  remedial  measures.  Further,  besides  notifying  the  affected organisations  along  with  remedial  actions  to  be  taken  and  coordinating  incident  response measures with them, the service providers, respective sector regulators and law enforcement agencies, in the case of transnational incidents, CERT-In also coordinates with international Computer Emergency Response Teams.

(e):  A  number  of  measures  have  been  taken  to  raise  awareness  for  safeguarding  against incidents of cyber fraud. These include the following:

- (i) The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is implementing the Information  Security  Education  and  Awareness  (ISEA)  Phase-II  project  to build capacities in the area of information security, train government personnel and create mass information security awareness for users. Under this, a large number  of  awareness  workshops  have  been  conducted  across  the  country, school teachers trained as master trainers to reach out to crores of users in the indirect  mode  through  Cyber  Safety  and  Cyber  Security  Awareness  Weeks organised  in  select  cities  in  collaboration  with  State  Cyber  Cell  /  Police departments, mass awareness programmes broadcasted through Doordarshan / All  India  Radio,  bimonthly  newsletters  published  in  print  and  digital  mode, and  multilingual  awareness  content  in  the  form  of  handbooks,  multimedia short  videos,  posters  etc.,  which  have  been  disseminated  through  print, electronic  and  social  media  and  made  available  for  download  on  the  ISEA awareness portal (www.infosecawareness.in).
- (ii) CERT-In regularly disseminates information and shares security tips on cyber safety  and  security  through  its  official  social  media  handles  and  websites. CERT-In  organised  various  events  and  activities  for  citizens  during  Safe Internet  Day  on  8.2.2022  and  Cyber  Security  Awareness  Month  in  October 2022,  by  posting  security  tips  using  posters  and  videos  on  social  media platforms and websites. CERT-In, in association with Centre for Development of  Advanced  Computing,  conducted  an  online  awareness  campaign  for citizens, covering topics such as general online safety, social media risks and safety, mobile related frauds and safety, secure digital payment practices, etc., through videos and quizzes on the MyGov platform.
- (iii) CERT-In and the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) jointly carry out a cybersecurity awareness campaign on 'beware and be aware of financial frauds' through the Digital India Platform.
- (iv) 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 an ongoing basis.
- (v) CERT-In  works  in  coordination  with  service  providers,  regulators  and  law enforcement  agencies  to  track  and  disable  phishing  websites  and  facilitate investigation of fraudulent activities.
- (vi) Security tips have been published for users to secure their desktops and mobile phones and to prevent phishing attacks.
- (vii) CERT-In operates the Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis  Centre)  to  detect  malicious  programs  and  provides  free  tools  to remove the same, and also provides cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations.
- (viii) CERT-In operates an automated cyber-threat exchange platform for proactively collecting, analysing and sharing tailored alerts with organisations across sectors for proactive threat mitigation actions by them.
- (ix) Cybersecurity mock  drills are conducted to enable assessment of the cybersecurity posture and preparedness of organisations in the government and critical  sectors.  74  such  drills  have  so  far  been  conducted  by  CERT-In,  in which 990 organisations from different States and sectors participated.
- (x) CERT-In  has  set  up  the  National  Cyber  Coordination  Centre  to  generate situational awareness regarding existing and potential cyber security threats.
- (xi) CERT-In  has  formulated  a  Cyber  Crisis  Management  Plan  for  countering cyber-attacks  and  cyber  terrorism  for  implementation  by  all  Ministries  and Departments of the Central Government, State Governments  and their organisations and critical sectors.
- (xii) CERT-In  conducts  regular  training  programmes  for  network  and  system administrators and the Chief Information Security Officers of government and critical  sector  organisations  regarding  securing  the  information  technology

infrastructure and mitigating cyber-attacks. A total of 42 training programmes have been conducted, covering 11,486 participants, during the years 2021 and 2022.

- (xiii) CERT-In, National Institute of Securities Markets and the Centre for Development  of  Advanced  Computing  (C-DAC)  conducts  a  self-paced  60hour certification  Cyber  Security  Foundation  Course for professionals  in  the financial sector.
- (xiv) CERT-In, through RBI, has advised all authorised entities and banks issuing pre-paid payment instruments (wallets) in the country to carry out special audit by CERT-In-empanelled auditors, close the non-compliances identified in the audit report and ensure implementation of security best practices.
- (xv) CERT-In  provides  leadership  for  the  Computer  Security  Incident  Response Team-Finance Sector (CSIRT-Fin) operations under its umbrella for responding to and containing and mitigating cybersecurity incidents reported from the financial sector.

*******