Cyber Security and Government Initiatives: An Overview

Thorugh this article we are going to discuss about the introduction of cyber security, Indian cyber act, problems regarding cyber security in India, government initiatives taken on cyber security and some steps to overcome cyber crime in India . In this era of Technology; with the abundant use of computer and internet; cyber crime has become a major problem. Basically we are living in an age of digital era where we can easily perform our work with the help of computer and internet. With the help of internet, man can successfully do their are assignments related to social networking, online shopping, online studying and online jobs. To Use the boons of computer and internet, most of the countries of the world have given importance on cyber security to protect themselves from cyber crime which is a major threat to the users. Like all the countries of this world; India too has made satisfactory cyber security acts to withstand cyber-crime.


INTRODUCTION
Work on digital platform and its importance have given many benefits to the people duringan after the Covid-19 pandemic.It has become very important as India has focussed on the Digital India; an initiative taken by the Govt. of India to avail the benefit of Technology. Govt. of India has given priority to the cyber security to protect trade and Commerce of India and also Govt. of Institutions from the damned hand of Cyber crime. To boost cyber security Govt. of India has setup National critical information infrastructure protection centre ( NCIPP) and National Cyber Coordination Centre( NCCC). Besides Govt. of India is continuously conducting many awareness campaigns to protect ourselves from cyber-crime or cyber-threat.Due to increasing use of internet and wireless network cyber system has become very important.

CYBER SECURITY
Cyber security is the exercise of protecting network, computer, data and programme from unauthorized access or illegal attack.Differently we may say that cyber security is the system of defending server, computer electronic system, mobile devices, network data and also software from malignant attack. Cyber security is called the information & Technology security or Electronic security. There are many domains in cyber security from trade and commerce to mobile computing. The world "Cyber" is related to computer and computer networking.

NECESSITY OF CYBER SECURITY
It is very important to understand the fundamental aspects of cyber security in India.Theincreasing Use of smartphones, Television and internet of things making various devices has made the necessity of cyber security.Photos of someone , Video or data/ information shared by someone in electronic social media may-be unwantedly used by someone else.Government has stored many secret information regarding its own country and the people living in the country. If these are hacked, the country will become helpless. Many IT sectors preserve abundant informations in their system. If these information are handed over to the cyber-criminals, the sectors will lose the faith of the common people .For this reason the necessity of cyber security is increasing day by day.

CYBER ATTACKS IN INDIA
1. Recently we have seen the ransomware cyber attack of Delhi AIIMS. As a result the personal data of millions of people is in the risk zone. 2. On February 2022, Air India also caught-in a great cyber attack. As a result the records (passport ,ticket ,credit card information) of 4.5 millions of customers were hacked. 3. In 2021, a high profile India based payment companies also faced the cyber attack. 4. It is also reported by Microsoft that during Covid-19 pandemic, phising and ransomware attack happenes in India. 5. In 2020, 82% of Indian company faced the ransomware attack. 6. On may 2017, Five Mega cities ( Kolkata ,Delhi ,Bhubaneswar ,Pune and Mumbai) also faced ransomware attack. 7. In 2017, Food Tech company Zomato also stole the data of 17 million of people. 8. In 2016, Union Bank of India also faced phishing cyber attack.

CHALLENGES TO INDIA'S CYBER SECURITY 1.Not everyone in India can buy expensive smartphone due to the wide range of economic level ---
All the users of India cannot use expensive devices for data protection. Whereas in U.S.A. 44% of people uses standard i-Phone, but in India it is not more than 1%. As a result we notice a security gap between the standard i-Phone and less expensive phones.

Lacks the required infrastructure ---
There is a lack of required infrastructure to improve the cyber security awareness in India. Very often, the infrastructure which is mandatory for national security is purchased from the commercial sectors. Example: The military has its fire fighting organizations while critical infrastructure is owned by commercial sectors.

Indian SPDI Rules, 2011 for Reasonable Security Practices:
The IS/ISO/ IEC 27001 regulation are identified by Indian SPDI rules-2011 as International standards. As such Indian companies aren't obligated but are highly advised to implement these standard which can help meet the" reasonable security practices "under Indian jurisdiction.The rules can also give individuals the right to correct their information and impose restrictions on disclosure data transfer and security measures. 5.National Cyber Security Policy, 2013:In 2013,the department of Electronics and Information Technology released the national Cyber security 2013 as a security framework for public and private organizations to better protect themselves from cyber attacks. 6.Reserve Bank of India Act 2018: The Reserve Bank of India introduced the RBI act in 2018, which deals cyber security guidelines and framework for urban co-operative banks and payment operators. 7. National Cyber Security Strategy 2020: The national Cyber security strategy of 2020 was the longawaited follow-up plan by the Indian Government to further improve cyber security efforts. The plan's main goal is to serve as the official guidance for stakeholders ,policy makers, and corporate leaders to prevent cyber incidents , cyber terrorism and espionange in cyber space. 8. IT Rules, 2021: On February 25, 2021, the ministry of Electronics and Information Technology introduced the Information Technology Rules, 2021 as a replacement for IT rules , 2011.The new amendments aim to allow ordinary users of digital platforms to seek compensation for their grievances and demand accountability when their rights are infringed upon, as well as Institute additional due diligence on organizations. 9. KYC(know your customers):KYC is the tracking and monitoring of customer data security for improved safeguarding against fraud and payment credentials theft. Volume 5, Issue 4, July-August 2023 5

CONCLUSION
For the last few decades, India has also witnessed cyber attack like other countries of the world. Growing economy and 1.3 billion people of India are the point of attraction to the cyber criminals. But with the progress of Technology,cyber world has given us many gifts. In this era of Science and Technology, no development is possible without computer, Network device and smartphone.Necessity of Cyber act has become compulsory with the use of internet.Like the two sides of a coin use of Technology has also both good and bad sides. Interdependency on technology has decreased the wastage of time, labour and also various problems of our society providing us speed in our work. During the first decade of 21st century, Govt. of India has introduced thIinformation Technology Act, which that investigates rectifies and Punishes the criminals who are engaged in digital crime ,cyber crime, data theft and so on. Government has now set up many cyber security regulating bodies and trying to aware people about the cyber crime .We hope that right implementation of cyber act will positively and safely Secure our digital data.