Cyberattacks on govt depts on the rise

New Delhi, February 13

As many as 492 incidents of phishing and smishing; 35 ransomware attacks and 151 cases of hacking of websites involving government departments and agencies have been reported in the past three years, the government today said in the Rajya Sabha.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrashekhar said, “According to the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a total of 35 ransomware cases were observed from 2020 to 2022 on government organisations. Further, a total of 77, 159 and 246 phishing and smishing incidents at government organisations and 59, 42 and 50 incidents of hacking of website of ministries/departments of the Central and state governments were observed in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively.”

The government said it was committed to ensure that the Internet was open, safe, trusted and accountable for all its users.

“With the expansion of the Internet and more Indians coming online, the possibility of cyber attacks has also increased,” the MoS admitted close on the heels of a ransomware attack on AIIMS servers that paralysed health services for nearly two weeks.