With the expansion of the Internet and more and more people coming online, the possibility of Digital citizens being exposed to user harms and criminality has also increased.
The central Government informed the parliament in the recently concluded Monsoon Session that it was fully cognizant and aware of various cyber security threats, underling that the Government remains committed to ensure that the Internet in India is Open, Safe and Trusted and Accountable for all users.
It said the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), India’s cybersecurity agency, issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats, vulnerabilities and countermeasures to protect computers and networks on an ongoing basis, which benefits all citizens, including those in rural areas.
While technology brings human beings, communities and countries closer, there are also some elements and global forces that use technology to cause economic and social harm to citizens and governments.
The situation calls for a strong defence mechanism to safeguard the digital data from the danger of being hacked, attacked and hijacked.
As per the government the CERT-In coordinates incident response measures with affected organisations, service providers, respective sector regulators and law enforcement agencies, and notifies the affected organisations regarding cyber incidents, along with remedial actions to be taken.
CERT-In has introduced a set of guidelines for organisations to comply with when connected to the digital realm. This included the mandatory obligation to report cyber attack incidents within hours of identifying them, and designating a point person with domain knowledge to interact with CERT-In. India’s draft Digital Personal Protection Bill 2022 proposes a penalty of up to Rs 500 crore for data breaches.
CERT-In, the government says, has set up the National Cyber Coordination Centre to generate situational awareness regarding existing and potential cyber security threats. It operates an automated cyber-threat exchange platform for proactively collecting, analysing and sharing tailored alerts with organisations across sectors for proactive threat mitigation actions by them.
Cyber Swachhta Kendra (CSK) – Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre, operated by CERT-In, has been established for detection of compromised systems in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users to prevent further malware infections.
As rightly underlined by the government, cyber security has become an essential aspect of global security that requires adequate attention on its economic and geo-political implications. It is essential to strengthen the capabilities of nations and international organizations to deal with new and emerging, traditional and non-traditional challenges.
