Over 100 government websites hacked during Jan-Nov 2018: Ahluwalia

Over 100 government websites, including some managed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), were hacked this year, Parliament was informed Wednesday.

"As per information reported to and tracked by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), 172 and 105 government websites, which includes 74 and 31 websites hosted on NICNET managed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) were hacked during the year 2017 and 2018 (up to November), respectively," Minister of State for Electronics and IT, S S Ahluwalia said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

He added that in tune with the dynamic nature of IT and emerging cyber threats, continuous efforts are required to be made by owners to protect networks by way of hardening and deploying appropriate security controls.

Government has taken several measures to enhance the cyber security posture and prevent cyber attacks including breaches and hacking, he further stated.

To another query, Ahluwalia said a total of three, 14 and six financial fraud incidents affecting ATMS, cards, point of sale (PoS) systems and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) have been reported during the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 (up to November), respectively, as per information reported to Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).

Further, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has registered a total of 1,191, 1,372, 2,059 and 921 cases of fraud involving ATM/debit cards, credit cards and Internet banking frauds reported (amount involved Rs 1 lakh and above) during the year 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (up to September 30, 2018), respectively, he said.

"The CERT-IN issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and counter measures on regular basis to ensure safe usage of digital technologies. Regarding securing digital payments, 28 advisories have been issued for users and institutions," the minister stated.

In response to another question, Ahluwalia said a total number of 53,081 cyber security incidents (including 53 ransomware incidents) were observed during the year 2017, as per CERT-In.