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CERT-In also reported more than 2.12 Lakhs cybersecurity incidents till February, 2022

The numbers were stated in a written reply by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Lok Sabha

The Government is committed to ensuring that the internet in India is open, safe, trusted and accountable for all users: Chandrasekhar

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) reported more than 2.12 Lakhs cybersecurity incidents this year (till February).

In comparison, the CERT-In reported more than 14.02 Lakhs cyber security related incidents in total last year.

This was revealed in a written reply by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on March 16.

While the Minister did not specify the origin of the attacks, previous such attacks have originated in countries like China, Pakistan, Algeria, Brazil, Canada, among a host of other countries.

The Minister, in his reply, also stated that the government was committed to ensuring that the ‘internet in India is open, safe, trusted and accountable for all users.’

In the written reply, the MoS also reiterated a host of measures taken to enhance the cyber security of critical installations in the country.

It was also highlighted in the reply that the Ministry had implemented the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) programme to build capacity in the arena of infosec. Under the initiative, the government will also undertake training of government officials regarding infosec and to raise awareness about the issue.

The project is currently being implemented via 52 academic and training institutions across the country.

In addition to this, the Minister also said that books and videos were available on government websites to raise awareness about information security. 

This comes on the same day as CERT-In issued a high-level warning for Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge users, citing security vulnerabilities that could be exploited to target users.

Earlier today, media reports also surfaced that stated that the government was mulling setting up a specialised Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) to thwart any attempts to cripple India’s critical power infrastructure.

India, of late, has been witnessing a serious uptick in cyber security-related attacks that have targeted key critical infrastructure.

In October of 2020, the country’s financial capital, Mumbai, was hit by a massive power outage prompting the cancellation of train services which brought the whole city to its knees.

Later, Maharashtra Power Minister Nitin Raut had alleged sabotage, with many experts pointing fingers towards China. Interestingly, the Union Power Minister later said that the failure happened because of human error. 

Later in February of 2021, it was reported that hackers stole the personal data of 4.5 Mn Air India passengers. 

In November last year, a cybersecurity firm had alleged that the personal and financial information of nearly 180 Mn PNB customers was left exposed for 7 months.

In a similar vein, a Cisco report last year had stated that Some Indian SMEs lost up to INR 7 Cr in cyber attacks between September 2020-September 2021.

The grim picture has only been made grimmer by the lackluster response from the government. In a bid to combat the menace, strict measures need to be taken to avoid such a fiasco in the near future and to safeguard critical installations across the country.