NEW DELHI: More than 700 websites of central ministries/departments and of state governments were hacked between 2013 and 2016, Lok Sabha was told on Tuesday.

As per information reported to and tracked by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), which works under the IT ministry, as many as 199 websites of central ministries/departments and state governments were hacked in 2016, compared to 164 in 2015, 155 in 2014 and 189 in 2013. This information was shared with Lok Sabha by minister of state for home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir in a written reply.

Of the 8,348 persons arrested under different provisions of law relating to cyber crime, only 315 were convicted during 2014-15, the government said.
In a recent cyber attack, the website of National Security Guard (NSG), a paramilitary force comprising anti-terror crack commandos, was partially defaced and abusive messages posted on the home page by unknown hackers on January 1. The website was blocked immediately.

Ahir said the government had initiated several policy, legal and technical measures such as audit of the systems and networks, increasing awareness in area of cyber security, sharing threat-related information with stakeholders, issuing advisories on such threats through CERT-IN and National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), and capacity development to address the issue of cyber hacking.

Source – Times of india