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Parliamentary panel raises issue of cyberattacks with MHA, IT ministry
The move comes amid reports of an increase in cyber attacks, including those potentially orchestrated by state actors, and targeting of vital installations.
The parliamentary panel on information technology on Tuesday asked the ministry of electronics and information technology and the ministry of home affairs about the prevalence of cyber attacks in the country and the steps being taken to tackle them, people familiar with the matter said.
The move comes amid reports of an increase in cyber attacks, including those potentially orchestrated by state actors, and targeting of vital installations.
The panel met officials from both ministries and was informed about the various schemes in place to tackle the cyber attacks.
“We are seeing an increasing number of cyber attacks,” a government official said on condition of anonymity. “That trend is undeniable.”
The officials told the panel that the country is well-equipped to rebuff any such attacks, one of the people cited in the first instance said on condition of anonymity. The panel also inquired about the number of cyber attacks that have taken place in the country in the last year, but the ministries did not put a number to them.
The people added that the IT ministry told the panel that it has directed all central and state ministries and departments, as well as state-owned companies in critical sectors to earmark 10% of their IT budget to increase their IT security capabilities to combat such incidents.
Opposition MPs, including the panel’s chairperson and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and another Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, flagged news reports of cyber security incidents across 10 power organisations earlier this month, flagged by the US security firm Recorded Future.
“The MPs wanted to be apprised of the facts of the case,” said the first person.
Hindustan Times on March 5 reported that cyber operations by state actors and the abuse of social media for “narrative warfare” are some of the particular threats likely to be recognised by the government in the National Cyber Security Strategy, 2021, a policy paper that could also make it mandatory for any business or government department with a significant IT interface to set up a cyber safety cell.
