Cybersecurity incidents tracked by CERT-In quadrupled in last 5 years
Cybersecurity incidents in India surged from 394,499 in 2019 to 1,592,917 in 2023, with government-related incidents more than doubling in the same period.
Between 2019 and 2023, the number of cybersecurity incidents reported to and tracked by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) more than quadrupled while those related to government organisations more than doubled, according to data shared by the minister of state for electronics and information technology Jitin Prasad in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
CERT-In tracked 394,499 cybersecurity in 2019, a number that ballooned to 1,592,917 in 2023. 2022 is the only year that saw a marginal dip over the preceding year. 2020 saw the highest year-on-year rise where the incidents almost tripled. In 2020, 1,158,208 incidents were reported followed by 1,402,809 in 2021 and 1,391,457 in 2022.
In a separate response, Prasad revealed that number of cybersecurity incidents reported to and tracked by CERT-In related to government organisations more than doubled between 2019 and 2023. In 2019, 85,797 incidents were reported followed by 54,314 in 2020, 48,285 in 2021,192,439 in 2022 and 204,844 in 2023.
According to directions issued by CERT-In in April 2022, 20 types of cybersecurity incidents have to be mandatorily reported to CERT-In. This includes data breaches, data leaks, identity thefts, attacks on digital payment systems, incidents of targeted scanning of critical networks and systems, and others.
No Aadhaar breach in UIDAI database
Prasad also confirmed that there had been no breach of Aadhaar data from the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) maintained by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). To be sure, the government did not deny or confirm whether Aadhaar data had been leaked or breached from the databases of other government and non-government entities UIDAI shares the data with.
Despite being asked by DMK MP P Wilson about an alleged leak of Aadhaar and passport details of 815 million Indians from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) database, Prasad did not say anything about the passport details being leaked. He also did not specifically deny that Aadhaar details had not been leaked/breached from an ICMR database.
