Lok Sabha Question No. 410 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-24
Subject: Cyber Frauds
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri K C Venugopal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 410

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 24.07.2024

## CYBER FRAUDS

## 410.  SHRI K C VENUGOPAL:

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

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the rising incidents of cyber frauds;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  have  taken  any  specific  initiatives  or  policies  to  mitigate fraud risks;
- (d) whether the current redressal mechanism for victims of cyber frauds effective;
- (e) if so, the details thereof;
- (f) whether the Government has established collaborations with the law enforcement and private sector entities to combat cyber frauds; and
- (g) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (g):As  per  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  (MHA),  the  'Citizen  Financial  Cyber  Fraud Reporting  and  Management  System'  was  launched  for  immediate  reporting  of  financial frauds and to stop siphoning off fund by the fraudsters. So far, financial amount of more than Rs. 2,400Crore has been saved in more than 7.6 lakh complaints.

'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  crimes  including  cyber  frauds  through  their  Law  Enforcement  Agencies (LEAs).  The  Central  Government  supplements  the  initiatives  of  the  States/UTs  through advisories and financial assistance under various schemes for their capacity building.

Government has taken following measures to enhance awareness among organisations and users for safe usage of digital technologies and prevent cyber frauds:

- (i) The Government has established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) under Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to provide a framework and eco-system for LEAs to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.  The Government has launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (https://cybercrime.gov.in)  to  enable  the  public  to  report  all  types  of  cyber  crimes, with special focus on incidents reported on this portal are routed automatically to the respective State/UT law enforcement agency for further handling as per the provisions of law.
- (ii) The  'Citizen  Financial  Cyber  Fraud  Reporting  and  Management  System'  was launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off fund by the  fraudsters.    A  toll-free  Helpline  number  '1930'  is  operationalized  to  provide assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.
- (iii) To  strengthen  the  mechanism  to  deal  with  cyber  crimes  in  a  comprehensive  and coordinated manner, the Central Government has taken steps for spreading awareness about  cyber  crimes;  issuance  of  alerts/advisories;  capacity  building/training  of  law enforcement  personnel/  prosecutors/ judicial officers;  improving  cyber  forensic facilities, etc.
- (iv) The Ministry of Home Affairs has taken many  steps to spread awareness on cyber crime that inter-alia include; issuance of alerts/advisories, dissemination of messages through SMS,  I4C social media account i.e Twitter handle (@Cyberdost), Facebook(CyberDostI4C), Instagram (cyberdostI4c), Telegram (cyberdostI4c),  Radio campaign, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple media, publishing of Handbook for Adolescents/Students, organizing of Cyber Safety and Security Awareness week, in  association  with  policy  department  in  different  States/UTs  etc.    The  Ministry  of Home  Affairs  has  issued  advisory  to  all  the  State/UT  Governments  to  carry  out publicity  of  National  Cyber  Crime  Reporting  Portal  (https://cybercrime.gov.in)  and Toll-free helpline number '1930' to create mass awareness.
- (v) The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (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.
- (vi) CERT-In works in coordination with service providers, regulators and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to track and disable phishing websites and facilitate investigation of fraudulent activities.
- (vii) 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.
- (viii) 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.
- (ix) CERT-In  has  empanelled  176  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- (x) 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.
- (xi) 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.
- (xii) 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.
- (xiii) CERT-In  has  formulated  a  Cyber  Crisis  Management  Plan  for  countering  cyber attacks  and  cyber  terrorism  for  implementation  by  all  Ministries/  Departments  of Central Government, State Governments and their organizations and critical sectors.
- (xiv) Cybersecurity  mock  drills  are  conducted  to  enable  assessment  of  cyber  security posture and preparedness of organisations in the Government and critical sectors. 92 such drills have so far been conducted by CERT-In where around 1400 organizations from different States and sectors participated.
- (xv) CERT-In  has  set  up  the  National  Cyber  Coordination  Centre  (NCCC)  to  generate necessary situational awareness of existing and potential cyber security threats.
- (xvi) 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.
- (xvii) 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.  During  2024,  till  June,  CERT-In  has  conducted  9  trainings  on  various specialized topics of cyber security covering 4,166 participants including system/Network Administrators and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs).

- (xviii) CERT-In, National Institute of Securities Markets and the Centre for Development of Advanced  Computing  (C-DAC)  conducts  a  self-paced  60-hour  certification  Cyber Security Foundation Course for professionals in the financial sector.
- (xix) Security  tips  have  been  published  for  users  to  secure  their  desktops  and  mobile phones and to prevent phishing attacks.
- (xx) CERT-In regularly carry out various activities for awareness and citizen sensitization with respect to cyber-attacks and cyber frauds.
- (xxi) 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.
- (xxii) 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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