Lok Sabha Question No. 762 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-07
Subject: Prevention of Cyber  Attack
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Nishikant  Dubey

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 762

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 07.02.2024

## PREVENTION OF CYBER ATTACK

## 762. SHRI MANOJ TIWARI: DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY:

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

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  recently  taken  a  few  measures  to  prevent  cyber  attacks including creation of inter-Departmental panel to coordinate with various agencies;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the number of cyber security incidents reported in the last three years, year-wise;

(d) whether said cases were tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-

In) and necessary action taken, and if so, the details thereof; and

(e)  whether  any  proactive  measures  have  been  taken  for  sharing  alerts  with  organisations across the sectors and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  and  (b):    The  policies  of  the  Government  are  aimed  at  ensuring  an  Open,  Safe  and Trusted and Accountable Internet for its users. Government is fully cognizant and aware of  various  cyber  security  threats  and  challenges  and  has  taken  following  measures  to enhance the cyber security posture and prevent cyber-attacks:

- (i) Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In),  in  April  2022,  issued directions under section 70B for mandatory reporting of cyber incidents to CERTIn within six hours of such incidents being noticed or being brought to notice.
- (ii) CERT-In, in December 2022, issued a special advisory on best practices to enhance the resilience of health sector entities, and has requested the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to disseminate the same to all authorised medical care entities and service providers in the country.
- (iii) 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.
- (iv) The office of National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) has been established to coordinate, oversee and in compliance of Cyber Security policies. The function of NCSC, inter alia,  includes  advise  and  ensure  implementation  of  action  plans  for cyber security by nodal agencies in their areas of responsibility.
- (v) To  mitigate  cybersecurity  risks  on  telecom  networks,  the  National  Security Directive  on  Telecommunication  Sector  has  been  mandated  with  effect  from  15 June 2021.
- (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 issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities

and countermeasures to protect computers and networks on an ongoing basis.

- (viii) CERT-In has set up the National Cyber Coordination Centre to generate situational awareness regarding existing and potential cyber security threats.
- (ix) CERT-In has formulated  a  Cyber  Crisis  Management  Plan  for  countering  cyberattacks and cyber terrorism for implementation by all Ministries and Departments of the Central Government, State Governments and their organisations and critical sectors.
- (x) CERT-In has empanelled 177 security auditing organisations to support and audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- (xi) Cyber security mock drills are conducted to  enable assessment of cyber security posture and preparedness of organisations in the Government and critical sectors. 87 such drills have so far been conducted by CERT-In where 1173 organizations from different States and sectors participated.
- (xii) CERT-In  operates  the  Cyber  Swachhta  Kendra  (Botnet  Cleaning  and  Malware Analysis Centre) to detect malicious programs and free tools to remove the same, and to provide cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations.
- (xiii) Security  tips  have  been  published  for  users  to  secure  their  desktops  and  mobile phones and to prevent phishing attacks.

(c):  As  per  the  information  reported  to  and  tracked  by  CERT-In,  a  total  of  14,02,809, 13,91,457 and 15,92,917 cyber security incidents were observed during the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively.

(d):  CERT-In receives inputs from its situational awareness systems and threat intelligence sources  about  malware  infections  and  vulnerabilities  in  networks  of  entities  across  sectors and  issues  alerts  to  the  organisations  and  sectoral  Computer  Security  Incident  Response Teams  (CSIRTs)  concerned  for remedial measures. CERT-In  co-operates,  works  and coordinates incident response measures with affected organisations, service providers as well as law enforcement agencies.

(e): Government has taken following proactive measures for sharing alerts with organizations across the sectors:

- (i) 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.
- (ii) CERT-In has set up the National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) to generate necessary situational awareness of existing and potential cyber security threats and enable timely information sharing for proactive, preventive and protective actions by individual entities.
- (iii) CERT-In  operates  the  Cyber  Swachhta  Kendra  (Botnet  Cleaning  and  Malware Analysis Centre) to detect malicious programs and free tools to remove the same, and to provide cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations.
- (iv) The  analytic  centre  at  National  Critical  Information  Infrastructure  Protection Center  (NCIIPC)  provides  near  real  time  threat  intelligence  and  situational awareness based on which regular alerts and tailored advisories are sent to Critical Information Infrastructure/ Protected System entities.

*******