More than 53,000 cyber security incidents took place in India last year, as per a report by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
The report was submitted to Indian Parliament by IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, where he mentioned that these cybersecurity incidents included website intrusions and defacements, virus and malicious code, phishing, scanning and probing, ransomware, as well as denial of service attacks.
“As per the information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total number of 44679, 49455, 50362 and 53081 cyber security incidents were observed during the year 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively,” wrote Ravi Shankar Prasad in a reply to Rajya Sabha (Indian Parliament).
The current data shows that the cyberattacks are rapidly increasing every year. While the rise in cyberattacks was low in 2016, it tripled in 2017 when compared to 2016.
“With the proliferation and vast expansion of Information Technology and related services, there is a rise in instances of cybercrimes including financial frauds, using bank cards and e-wallets in the country like elsewhere in the world,” he added.
As per the data by NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau), over 9622, 11592, and 12317 cases related to cybercrime were registered in 2014, 2015, and 2016, respectively.
Indian government has taken several legal, technical and administrative steps to control cybercrime. In 2014, the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) was established for the protection of critical infrastructure in the country.
‘Digital India’ campaign is among leading initiatives by the Indian Government to develop the country. It is empowering Indian citizens by enhancing connectivity, improving electronic delivery of government services, etc. However, the more India is moving toward digitalization, the more is the increase in cybercrime.
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Apart from NCIIPC, the government has set up cybercrime cells in all states and union territories.
