Lok Sabha Question No. 2348 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-03
Subject: Cyber Crimes
Ministry: HOME AFFAIRS
Asked by: Pragya Singh Thakur, Ramesh Bidhuri, Bheemrao Baswanthrao Patil, Sunil Baburao Mendhe, Nishikant  Dubey, Balubhau (Alias Suresh Narayan) Dhanorkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2348

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 03 RD  AUGUST, 2021/ SRAVANA 12, 1943 (SAKA)

## CYBER CRIMES

2348.  SADHVI PRAGYA SINGH THAKUR:

SHRI RAMESH BIDHURI:

SHRI B.B. PATIL:

SHRI SUNIL BABURAO MENDHE:

DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY:

SHRI BALUBHAU ALIAS SURESH NARAYAN DHANORKAR:

## Will the Minister of HOME AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  cases  of  cyber  frauds/crimes  have  increased  during  the recent period and if so, the details thereof including the number of such cases reported during each of the last three years and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (b) whether  there are reports of cyber attack into systems  of the companies which manage power supply and also into the system of a company which is supplying COVID-19 Vaccine across the country, if so, the details thereof along with the action taken thereon;
- (c) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  strengthen  cyber  security  in tandem with Digital India, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the challenges faced by the law enforcement agencies in investigating and  apprehending  the  criminals  in  cyber  frauds  accross  the  country and the steps taken to address these challenges?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI AJAY KUMAR MISHRA)

(a) & (d):  With the enhanced use of cyber space, the number of cyber crimes including financial frauds, is also increasing. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes statistical data on crimes in its publication 'Crime  in   India'.  The   latest   published   report    is    for    the   year 2019.

## LS.USQ. NO.2348 FOR 03.08.2021

As  per  the  data  published  by  the  NCRB,  the  details  of  cases  registered under cyber crimes, during 2017,2018 & 2019 are 21796, 27248 and 44546 respectively.

'Police'  and  'Public  Order'  are  State  subjects  as  per  the  Seventh Schedule of the Constitution  of  India.  States/UTs  are  primarily  responsible for  the  prevention,  detection,  investigation  and  prosecution  of  cyber  crime through  their  Law  Enforcement  Agencies  (LEAs)  as  per  provisions  of  law. Further,  States/UTs  are  responsible  for  strengthening  their  cyber  security apparatus/  infrastructure,  and  build  capacity  of  their  Law  Enforcement Agencies, by imparting training to police personnel to meet the challenges in the field of cyber crime, forensics etc.  The Central Government supplements the  initiatives  of  the  State  Governments  through  advisories  and  financial assistance under various schemes for their capacity building.

The  Central  Government  has  taken  steps  for  spreading  awareness about  cybercrimes,  issuance  of  alerts/  advisories,  capacity  building  of  law enforcement personnel/prosecutors/judicial officers, improving cyber forensic facilities etc. The Government has established Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to provide a framework and eco-system for LEAs to deal with the cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. The Government  has  launched  the  National  Cyber Crime  Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in),      to    enable     public     to     report       incidents

## LS.USQ. NO.2348 FOR 03.08.2021

pertaining to all types of cyber crimes, with a special focus on cyber crimes against women and children. A toll-free number 155260 has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System module has been launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds  and to stop siphoning off fund by the fraudsters.

(b)  &  (c):  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 in networks of entities across sectors.  Whenever  any  incident  comes  to  the  notice  of  CERT-In,  it  issues alerts  and  advisories  to  the  entities  concerned  and  sectoral  Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) for remedial measures.

Government has taken measures to strengthen the cyber security setup in the country which, inter-alia, include the following:

- i. CERT-In issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities and counter measures 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.

## LS.USQ. NO.2348 FOR 03.08.2021

- iii. All the government websites and applications are audited with respect to  cyber  security  prior  to  their  hosting.  The  auditing  of  the  websites and applications are 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. 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.
- vii. Government has set up the National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) to generate necessary situational awareness of existing and potential cyber security threats.

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