Lok Sabha Question No. 1043 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-08
Subject: Cyber Attack
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Arvind Kumar Sharma, Bharatiben Dhirubhai Shyal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1043

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 08.02.2023

## CYBER ATTACK

## 1043 DR. ARVIND KUMAR SHARMA: DR. BHARATIBEN DHIRUBHAI SHIYAL:

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

(a)  whether it is  a  fact  that  India  is  one  of  the  most  cyber  attack  targetted  countries  in  the world particularly from China and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether the Government is making any efforts to tackle the said condition;

(c) if so, the details thereof; and

(d) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a):  The  Government  is  committed  to  ensure  that  the  Internet  in  India  is  Open,  Safe  & Trusted and Accountable for all users. With the expansion of the Internet and more and more Indians coming online, the possibility that Digital Nagrik or citizens being exposed to user harms and criminality has also increased. Government is fully cognizant and aware of various cyber security threats.

Cyberspace being borderless, coupled with anonymity and wide scale reach of Internet, rise in cyber attacks and cyber security incidents is a global phenomenon. The Indian Computer Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  is  mandated  to  track  and  monitor  cyber  security incidents  in  India.  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. According to analysis done by CERT-In, the Internet  Protocol  (IP)  addresses  of  the  computers  from  where  the  attacks  appear  to  have originated are from a number of countries.

(b) to (d): A number of measures have been taken to enhance India's cyber security posture and to curb such incidents. These include the following:

- (i.) A Cyber Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber-attacks and cyber-terrorism, has been formulated by CERT-In,  for implementation by all Ministries and Departments of the Central Government, State Governments and their organisations and critical sectors.
- (ii.) On  observing  an  incident,  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.
- (iii.) Regular  training  programmes  for  network  and  system  administrators  and  the  Chief Information  Security  Officers  of  government  and  critical  sector  organisations  are conducted  by  CERT-In,  for  securing  the  information  technology  infrastructure  and mitigating cyber-attacks. A total of 42 training programmes were conducted, covering 11,486 participants, during the years 2021 and 2022.
- (iv.) CERT-In has been issuing alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities and countermeasures to protect computers and networks, on an ongoing basis.
- (v.) Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) is operated by CERT-In to detect malicious programs and free tools to remove the same, and to provide cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations.
- (vi.) 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.
- (vii.) CERT-In  has  empanelled  150  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- (viii.) Cyber  security  mock  drills  are  conducted  to  enable  assessment  of  cyber  security 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.

The National Cyber Coordination Centre has been set up to generate situational awareness regarding existing and potential cyber security threats.

CERT-In and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) jointly carried out a cyber security awareness campaign on 'beware and be aware of financial frauds' through the Digital India Platform.

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