In response to a parliamentary question, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) revealed that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) tracked 11,58,208 cybersecurity incidents in 2020. This is a sharp rise from the 3,94,499 incidents that occurred in 2019. In a different answer to a Lok Sabha query, the government said that CERT-in received 26,121 reports of Indian websites being hacked last year, of which 59 websites belonged to central and state governments. For more info on some of the major cyberattacks that occurred in 2020, read our earlier story: 2020 was a good year for cyber criminals, a bad one for financial and payments security MHA did not provide any further details on the cyberattacks but lists several initiatives taken by the government to prevent cyber attacks: CERT-In issues alerts and advisories to concerned entities on the latest cyber threats The government has issued guidelines for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) regarding their responsibility for securing government applications and infrastructure. A Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP) has been formulated for implementation in all government entities. All government websites and applications are audited with respect to cybersecurity, both before and after hosting. The government is operating Cyber Swachhta Kendra, a botnet cleaning and malware analysis centre that provides tools to detect malicious programs and remove them. The National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) has been set up to generate awareness of existing and potential cybersecurity threats. The government was responding to a Lok Sabha query by BJP MP Pratima Bhoumik. Full question and answer…
