Lok Sabha Question No. 2624 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-11
Subject: Awareness about Cyber Threats
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Ram Prasad Chaudhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2624

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 11.12.2024

## AWARENESS ABOUT CYBER THREATS

## † 2624.   SHRI RAM PRASAD CHAUDHARY:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  cyber  criminals  are  becoming  increasingly sophisticated,  leveraging  deepfake  technology,  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  and  social engineering/websites to do unbelievable scams; and
- (b) if  so,  the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  raise  awareness  about  cyber threats, promote safe online behaviour and equip organisations with the necessary tools to tackle emerging digital risks?

## ANSWER

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

(a) and (b):  The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet for its users. Government is fully cognizant and aware of various cyber security  threats  including  those  due  to  emerging  technologies.  To  strengthen  the  nation's cybersecurity  posture,  the  Government  has  taken  several  key  initiatives  to  raise  awareness about cyber threats and promote safe online behaviour, which, inter alia, includes:

- i. The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (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.
- ii. National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) implemented by the CERT-In serves as the control room to scan the cyberspace in the country and detect cyber security threats. NCCC  facilitates  coordination  among  different  agencies  by  sharing  with  them  the metadata from cyberspace for taking actions to mitigate cyber security threats.
- iii. 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.
- iv. Cyber  Swachhta  Kendra  (CSK)  is  a  citizen-centric  service  provided  by  CERT-In, which  extends  the  vision  of  Swachh  Bharat  to  the  Cyber  Space.  Cyber  Swachhta Kendra  is  the  Botnet  Cleaning  and  Malware  Analysis  Centre  and  helps  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.
- v. CERT-In, through Reserve Bank of India, has advised all authorised entities and banks issuing pre-paid payment instruments (wallets) in the country to carry out special audit by  CERT-In  empanelled  auditors,  close  the  non-compliances  identified  in  the  audit report and ensure implementation of security best practices.
- vi. CERT-In  has  empanelled  155  security  auditing  organisations  to  support  and  audit implementation of Information Security Best Practices.
- vii. Cyber  security  mock  drills  are  conducted  regularly  to  enable  assessment  of  cyber security posture and preparedness of organisations and enhance resilience in Government and critical sectors.
- viii. CERT-In conducts regular training programmes for network and system administrators and CISOs of government, public and private sector organisations regarding securing information technology infrastructure and mitigating cyber-attacks.
- ix. The Computer Security Incident Response Team-Finance Sector (CSIRT-Fin) has been setup for responding to and containing and mitigating cyber security incidents reported from the financial sector under the umbrella and guidance of CERT-In.
- x. CERT-In  operates  an  automated  cyber  threat  intelligence  exchange  platform  for proactively  collecting,  analysing  and  sharing  tailored  alerts  with  organisations  across sectors for proactive threat mitigation actions by them.
- xi. CERT-In  issued  Cyber  Security  Directions  in  April  2022  under  sub-section  (6)  of section  70B  of  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  relating  to  information  security practices, procedure, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents for Safe & Trusted Internet.
- xii. CERT-In  issues  alerts  and  advisories  regarding  latest  cyber  threats/vulnerabilities including social engineering, phishing and vishing campaigns using Artificial Intelligence  and  countermeasures  to  protect  computers,  networks  and  data  on  an ongoing basis. In this context, an advisory on safety measures to be taken to minimize the adversarial threats arising from Artificial Intelligence (AI) based applications was published in May 2023.
- xiii. CERT-In 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.
- xiv. CERT-In  issued  an  advisory  to  various  Ministries  in  November  2023  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.
- xv. CERT-In  has  published  an  advisory  in  November  2024  on  deepfake  threats  and measures that need to be followed to stay protected against deepfakes.
- xvi. National  Informatics  Centre  (NIC)  provides  Information  Technology  (IT)  support  to ministries,  departments  and  agencies  of  the  Central  Government,  State  Governments and district administrators for various e-governance solutions and follows information security policies and practices in line with industry standards and practices, aimed at preventing cyber attacks and safeguarding data.
- xvii. The  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  conducts  programmes  to generate information security awareness. Awareness material in the form of handbooks, short  videos,  posters,  brochures,  cartoon    stories  for    children,    advisories,    etc.  on various aspects of cyber  hygiene &  cyber  security including  deepfakes are disseminated through portals such as www.staysafeonline.in,www.infosecawareness.inand www.csk.gov.in.
- xviii. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has set up the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre(I4C) to deal with all types of cybercrime. The MHA has launched the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (https://cybercrime.gov.in) to enable the public to report all types of cyber crimes. A toll-free number 1930 is made operational for citizens to get assistance in lodging online complaints in their own language.

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