Why in News?

• Emails and passwords of hundreds of Union government officials have been exposed to hackers due to the recent data breaches of Air India, Domino’s and Big Basket.

What are cyberattacks?

• A cyberattack is a malicious and deliberate attempt by an individual or organization to breach the information system of another individual or organization.

Types of cyberattacks

• Malware- is a term used to describe malicious software, including spyware, ransomware, viruses, and worms. Malware breaches a network through a vulnerability, typically when a user clicks a dangerous link or email attachment that then installs risky software. Ex: WannaCry(ransomware), NotPetya(ransomware)
• Phishing- is the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a reputable source, usually through email. The goal is to steal sensitive data like credit card and login information or to install malware on the victim’s machine. Phishing is an increasingly common cyberthreat.
• Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks– also known as eavesdropping attacks, occur when attackers insert themselves into a two-party transaction. Once the attackers interrupt the traffic, they can filter and steal data.
• A denial-of-service attack– floods systems, servers, or networks with traffic to exhaust resources and bandwidth. As a result, the system is unable to fulfill legitimate requests. Attackers can also use multiple compromised devices to launch this attack. This is known as a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.
• A Structured Query Language (SQL) injection– occurs when an attacker inserts malicious code into a server that uses SQL and forces the server to reveal information it normally would not. An attacker could carry out a SQL injection simply by submitting malicious code into a vulnerable website search box.
• A zero-day exploit– hits after a network vulnerability is announced but before a patch or solution is implemented. Attackers target the disclosed vulnerability during this window of time. Zero-day vulnerability threat detection requires constant awareness.

Cyber attacks in India

• Nearly 1.16 million cases of cyberattacks were reported in 2020, up nearly three times from 2019 and more than 20 times compared to 2016.
• India was the second most attacked country in the Asia Pacific, after Japan
• Finance and insurance was the top attacked industry in India (60%), followed by manufacturing and professional services.
• Ransomware was the top attack type, making up roughly 40% of attacks.

Government Initiatives

• The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) as the nodal agency for coordination of all cyber security efforts, emergency responses, and crisis management
• e-BAAT (Electronic Banking Awareness And Training) programmes by RBI
• Organising campaigns on safe use of digital payment modes
• The Government has launched the online cybercrime reporting portal, www.cybercrime.gov.in to enable complainants to report complaints pertaining to Child Pornography/Child Sexual Abuse Material, rape/gang rape imageries or sexually explicit content.
• The Central Government has rolled out a scheme for establishment of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) to handle issues related to cybercrime in the country in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
• Establishment of National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) for protection of critical information infrastructure in the country.
• All organizations providing digital services have been mandated to report cyber security incidents to CERT-In expeditiously.
• Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) has been launched for providing detection of malicious programmes and free tools to remove such programmes.
• Formulation of Crisis Management Plan for countering cyber attacks and cyber terrorism.
• Conducting regular training programmes for network / system administrators and Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) of Government and critical sector organisations regarding securing the IT infrastructure and mitigating cyber attacks.
• Information Technology Act (Amendment) 2008 – It empowers the Indian government to intercept, monitor and decrypt computer systems, resources and communication devices.

• National Cyber Security Strategy 2020

Reference:

1.  https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/data-breaches-expose-emails-passwords-of-several-government-officials-to-hackers/article34798982.ece