In a written response to a question raised in the Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) which has been mandated to track and monitor cyber security incidents in India has observed that the total number of phishing incidents has gone up from 280 in 2020 to 523 in 2021. The total number of ransomware attacks too has shot up from 54 in 2020 to 132 in 2021.
“(The) Government is fully cognizant and aware of the increasing number of various cyber security threats. With the borderless cyberspace coupled with the anonymity, along with rapid growth of the Internet, rise in cyber security incidents is a global phenomenon,” the government said in its response.
In line with this the Ministry of Electronics and IT also cited data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) wherein it said that the number of cybercrime cases that were registered in 2020 stood at 50035 which is a significant increase from 44735 cases in the preceding year.
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While the government said that police and public order was a State subject as per the Constitution, it said that a number of measures have been put in place to address cyber threats in the country. These include the enactment of the Information Technology Act, 2000 which has provisions to deal with prevalent cybercrimes as well as the establishment of CERT-In which issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities. “CERT-In has issued 68 advisories for organisations and users for data security and mitigating fraudulent activities,” the government said.
