Lok Sabha Question No. 1458 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-31
Subject: Personal Data Mining and PhishingIt
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Manish Jaiswal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1458

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 31.07.2024.

## PERSONAL DATA MINING AND PHISHING

## 1458.    SHRI MANISH JAISWAL:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the increasing incidents of personal data mining and phishing activities being undertaken by anti-social elements;
- (b) if so, the measures taken by the Government to curb these activities and protect citizens' personal data in the country including in Jharkhand;
- (c) the steps taken to raise public awareness about the risks of data mining and phishing to avoid falling victim to such activities;
- (d) whether any recent cases of data mining and phishing has been reported in Jharkhand;
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the actions taken against the perpetrators; and
- (f) the future plans proposed by the Government to enhance cyber-security measures and to prevent personal data mining and phishing activities across the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (f): The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet for all users. The Government has taken several measures to safeguard against threats and protect citizens' personal data across the country, including in Jharkhand. These measures include:

- i. The  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  has  set  up  the  Indian  Cyber  Crime  Coordination Centre(I4C) to deal with all types of cybercrime, including cybercrime against children, in  a  coordinated  and  comprehensive  manner.  A  toll-free  number  1930  has  been  made operational  for  citizens  to  get  assistance  in  lodging  online  complaints  in  their  own language. The Ministry of Home Affairs has also taken several steps to spread awareness on cybercrime, including through dissemination of messages on cybercrime through the Twitter handle @CyberDost and radio campaigns.
- ii. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (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.
- iii. CERT-In  issues  alerts  and  advisories  regarding  latest  cyber  threats/vulnerabilities  and countermeasures to protect computers, mobile phones, networks and data on an ongoing basis.
- iv. CERT-In has issued an advisory to various Ministries outlining the measures to be taken for strengthening the cyber security by all entities that are processing the digital personal data or information including sensitive personal data or information.
- v. 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-Inempanelled auditors, close the non-compliances identified in the audit report and ensure implementation of security best practices.
- vi. CERT-In has issued guidelines on information security practices for government entities in  June  2023  covering  domains  such  as  data  security,  network  security,  identity  and access management, application security, third-party outsourcing, hardening procedures, security monitoring, incident management and security auditing.
- vii. 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.
- viii. On observing hacking of social media accounts, CERT-In coordinates incident response measures with affected entities and service providers.
- ix. CERT-In  works  in  coordination  with  service  providers  to  track  and  disable  phishing websites and facilitate investigation of fraudulent activities.
- x. CERT-In  has  empanelled  176  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- xi. 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.
- xii. CERT-In  provides  leadership  for  the  Computer  Security  Incident  Response  TeamFinance  Sector  (CSIRT-Fin)  operations  under  its  umbrella  for  responding  to  and containing and mitigating cyber security incidents reported from the financial sector.
- xiii. CERT-In  regularly  carries  out  various  activities  for  development  of  cyber  security capacities, skill building, awareness and citizen sensitization with respect to cyberattacks and cyber frauds. In order to create security awareness within the Government, Public and Private Sector organizations, CERT-In regularly conducts trainings / workshops to train officials of Government, Public and Private sector organizations across all sectors on focused topics of Cyber Security.
- xiv. CERT-In  and  the  Reserve  Bank  of  India  (RBI)  jointly  carry  out  a  cyber  security awareness campaign on 'beware and be aware of financial frauds' through the Digital India Platform.
- xv. The  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  conducts  programmes  to generate  information  security  awareness.  Books,  videos  and  online  materials  about information  security  are  developed  for  general  users,  children  and  parents,  and  are disseminated through portals such as www.infosecawareness.in and www.csk.gov.in.

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