Lok Sabha Question No. 112 (STARRED), answered on 2022-02-09
Subject: Cyber Attacks
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Arvind Kumar Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *112

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 09.02.2022

## CYBER ATTACKS

## *112.  DR. ARVIND KUMAR SHARMA:

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

- (a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  fact  that  India  is  one  of  the  most  cyber  targeted countries in the world;
- (b) if so, whether the Government is making efforts to address the above mentioned situation; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *112 FOR 09.02.2022 REGARDING CYBER ATTACKS

……….

- (a): The Government is committed to ensure that the Internet in India is Open, Safe & Trusted and Accountable for all users. As the internet expands and delivers many benefits for citizens, the Government is fully aware of growing instances of user harms, criminality and cyber threats online.  Further,  there  has  been  media  articles,  citing  a  report  published  by  IBM  X-Force  (A threat  intelligence  sharing  platform),  stating  that  India  was  the  second  most  Cyber  attacked country in Asia-Pacific in year 2020. The findings of such reports by cyber security vendors are generally based on data generated by their products and details of such data is not available and hence cannot be verified.
- (b) and (c): Government is fully cognizant and aware of various cyber security threats; and has  taken  following  measures  to  enhance  the  cyber  security  posture  and  prevent  cyberattacks:
- 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. CERT-In is  also  operating  Responsible  Vulnerability  Disclosure  and  Coordination program to encourage vulnerability identification and remediation in the country.
- iii. CERT-In is operating 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.
- iv. Government has issued guidelines for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) regarding their key roles and responsibilities for securing applications / infrastructure and compliance.
- v. All  the  government  websites  and  applications  are  audited  with  respect  to  cyber security prior to their hosting.  Auditing of the websites and applications is conducted on a regular basis after hosting also.
- vi. CERT-In  has  empanelled  96  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- vii. The  Government  has  formulated  a  Cyber  Crisis  Management  Plan  (CCMP)  for countering  cyber-attacks  and  cyber  terrorism  for  implementation  by  all  Ministries/ Departments of Central Government, State/UT Governments and their organizations and critical sectors.
- viii. Cyber  security  mock  drills  are  conducted  regularly  in  Government  and  critical sectors.  64  such  drills  have  so  far  been  conducted  by  CERT-In  where  820 organisations from different States and sectors participated.
- ix. 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.

15  and  19  training  programs  were  conducted  covering  708  and  5169  participants during the year 2020 and 2021 respectively.

- x. CERT-In 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.
- xi. CERT-In  is  providing  the  requisite  leadership  for  the  Computer  Security  Incident Response  Team-Finance  Sector  (CSIRT-Fin)  operations  under  its  umbrella  for responding to containment and mitigation of cyber security incidents reported from the financial sector.
- xii. CERT-In 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.
- xiii. CERT-In also co-operates, works and coordinates incident response measures with international  CERTs,  overseas  organisations  and  service  providers  as  well  as  Law Enforcement Agencies.
- xiv. 24x7 Security Monitoring Centre is in place at National Informatics Centre (NIC) for detecting and responding to security incidents related to NIC infrastructure and data centres. Additionally for enhancing  data  security, periodic security audits  and vulnerability assessment of resources are performed followed by subsequent hardenings.
- xv. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG) to the Central Ministries as well as the State Governments/Union Territories in order to prevent information security breaches/Cyber intrusions in ICT infrastructure.
- xvi. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under MHA has been designated as the nodal point in the fight against cybercrime. Government has launched National Cyber  Crime  reporting  portal  namely  www.cybercrime.gov.in  to  enable  public  to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber-crimes with a special focus on cybercrimes against women and children
- xvii. The analytic centre at National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) provides near real time threat intelligence and situation awareness based on which regular alerts and advisories are sent to Critical Information Infrastructure / Protected System entities to avert cyber-attacks.

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