Lok Sabha Question No. 2823 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-17
Subject: National Cyber Resilience Fund
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Dr. Jayanta Kumar Roy

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2823

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 17.12.2025

## NATIONAL CYBER RESILIENCE FUND

## 2823. DR. JAYANTA KUMAR ROY:

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

- (a) the strategy for Mandatory Security Audits for critical infrastructure entities under CERT-In;
- (b) the manner in which the Government is addressing the rise of ransomware attacks and cross-border cyber-crime incidents;
- (c)  whether  a  National  Cyber  Resilience  Fund  has  been  established  to  support  industry  hardening efforts;
- (d)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  increase  the  talent  pool  of  certified  cyber  security professionals nationwide; and
- (e) the manner in which the Cyber Suraksha Kendras are being scaled up to provide effective regional cyber incident response?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (e):  The  policies  of  the  Government  of  India  aim  to  ensure  a  safe,  trusted,  and  accountable cyberspace. It remains vigilant and fully conscious of the cyber threat to India's digital infrastructure.

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team  (CERT-In) and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) work continuously to safeguard digital services, including the critical sectors.

These  agencies  regularly  monitor  incidents,  support  timely  response  and  ensure  restoration.  They conduct security and vulnerability audits under the Information Technology Act and Rules made under. In  this  regard,  CERT-In  has  developed  and  issued  a  Comprehensive  Cyber  Security  Audit  Policy Guidelines  in  July  2025  to  carry  out  cyber  security  audits.  These  audits  are  done  in  a  consistent, effective, and secure manner across sectors including critical infrastructure.

As per the guidelines, cyber security audit are conducted at least once in a year. It has empanelled 231 security  auditing  organizations  to  support  and  audit  implementation  of  Information  Security  Best Practices.

In addition, the Government has undertaken several measures to strengthen security of cyber ecosystem including against ransomware and Cross-Border Cybercrime:

1. CERT-In is designated as the national agency for responding to cyber security incidents under the provisions of section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
2. It  issues alerts & advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities including malicious attacks using AI and countermeasures regularly.
3. It  advises  remedial  measures  to  affected  organisations  and  coordinates  incident  response measures.
4. National Informatics Centre (NIC) carries out comprehensive security audit annually for its Critical Infrastructure to address the increasing number of ransomware attacks through CERTIn empanelled agencies including:
- a) Information and Communication Technology infrastructure Audit of Central Ministries/Departments, States /UTs and National Data Centres.
- b) Comprehensive Security Audit of Critical Web applications /databases/platforms.
- c)  Deployment of Unified Endpoint Management, Endpoint Detection and Response solutions across central ministries and departments for endpoint protection.
- d) Removal of obsolete and legacy systems from the network.24×7 monitoring, detection, and mitigation of cyber threats using AI/ML and advanced security tools.
- e)  Continuous  vulnerability  assessments,  system  hardening,  and  proactive  identification  of application/system weaknesses.
- f) Implementation of Zero Trust Security across NIC's ICT infrastructure.
- g) Regular cybersecurity awareness programs for government employees.
5. CERT-In operates an automated cyber threat intelligence exchange platform for sharing tailored alerts with organisations across sectors for proactive threat mitigation.
6. Cyber  security  mock  drills  are  conducted  regularly  to  enable  assessment  of  cyber  security posture and preparedness of various organisations.
7. Establishment of sector-specific Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs), such as  CSIRT-Fin  (Finance)  and  CSIRT-Power,  to  monitor  &  respond  to  cyber  incidents  within respective sectors.
8. Formulation  of  the  Cyber  Crisis  Management  Plan  (CCMP)  for  all  Government  bodies  to counter cyber-attacks and enable coordinated recovery.
9. 213 CCMP sensitisation workshops have been conducted to strengthen preparedness across organisations.
10. Development of indigenous cybersecurity tools by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing to reduce dependence on foreign solutions.

## Expanding Cybersecurity Talent Pool

- Information Security Education & Awareness ('ISEA') program has been launched to generate awareness among users while using internet.
- o A dedicated website has been created for information security awareness that generates and upgrades relevant  awareness  material  on  a  regular  basis  and  can  be  accessed  at https://www.infosecawareness.in.
- Certified Security Professional in Artificial Intelligence (CSPAI) program launched by CERTIn in September 2024 equips cybersecurity professionals with the skills to secure AI systems.
- o It  helps  in  addressing  AI-related  threats,  and  ultimately  ensure  trustworthy  AI deployment in business environments.

## Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK)

It is a citizen-centric service provided by CERT-In, which extends the vision of Swachh Bharat to the Cyber Space

- It is the Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre and helps to detect malicious programs and provides free tools to remove the same
- It also provides cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations
- Alerts regarding botnet/malware infections and vulnerable services are sent on a daily basis to organizations across sectors along with remedial measures.

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