Indian Computer Emergency Response Team

Indian government cybersecurity agency

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Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In)

Agency overview
Formed| 19 January 2004; 20 years ago (2004-01-19)[1][2]
Headquarters| New Delhi, India[3]
28°35′11″N 77°14′22″E﻿ / ﻿28.58639°N 77.23944°E﻿ / 28.58639; 77.23944
Motto| Handling Cyber Security Incidents
Agency executive|

* Dr. Sanjay Bahl, Director General[4]

Parent department| Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Website| सर्ट-इन.भारत , www.cert-in.org.in, www.सीएसके.सरकार.भारत , www.csk.gov.in

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In or ICERT) is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India.[3] It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security incidents. It strengthens security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.

## Background

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CERT-In, an acronym for 'Indian Computer Emergency Response Team', is the National Incident Response Centre for major computer security incidents in its constituency i.e. Indian cyber community. It was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. CERT-In is a functional organisation of Ministry of Electronics and Information, Govt. of India, with an objective of securing Indian cyber space.[5]

CERT-In's primary role is to raise security awareness among Indian cyber community and to provide technical assistance and advise them to help them recover from computer security incidents.[5] It provides technical advice to System Administrators and users to respond to computer security incidents. It also identifies trends in intruder activity, works with other similar institutions & organisations to resolve major security issues, and disseminates information to the Indian cyber community. It also enlightens its constituents about the security awareness and best practices for various systems; networks by publishing advisories, guidelines and other technical document.

CERT-In's vision is to proactively contribution in securing India's cyber space and building safe and trusted cyber ecosystem for the citizen. Its mission is to enhance the security of India's Communications and Information Infrastructure through proactive action and effective collaboration.

## Functions

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In December 2013, CERT-In reported there was a rise in cyber attacks on Government organisations like banking and finance, oil and gas and emergency services. It issued a list of security guidelines to all critical departments.[6] It liaisons with the Office of National Cyber Security Coordinator, National Security Council and National Information Board in terms of the nation's cyber security and threats. As a nodal entity, India's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) plays a crucial role under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY).

Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) launched Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) on 21 February 2017 as part of the Government of India's Digital India initiative under MeitY.[7] Cyber Swachhta Kendra] (CSK) is a citizen centric service provided by CERT-In, which extends the vision of Swachh Bharat to the Cyber Space. CSK aims to secure India's digital IT Infrastructure by creating a dedicated mechanism for providing timely information about Botnet/Malware threats to the victim organization/user and suggesting remedial actions to be taken by the concerned entity. The centre has been established for detection of compromised systems in India and to notify, enable cleaning and securing systems of end users to prevent further malware infections. The centre is working in close coordination and collaboration with Internet Service Providers, Academia and Industry. The centre is providing detection of malicious programs and free tools to remove the same for common users.

In September 2022, CERT-In hosted exercise 'Synergy' in collaboration with Cyber Security Agency, Singapore. It had a participation of 13 countries and was conducted as a part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative-Resilience Working Group.[8]

## Agreements

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A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in May 2016 between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the Ministry of Cabinet Office, UK.

Earlier CERT-In signed MoUs with similar organisations in about seven countries – Korea, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Uzbekistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs has also signed MoU with Cyber Security as one of the areas of cooperation with Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. With the MoUs, participating countries can exchange technical information on Cyber attacks, respond to cybersecurity incidents and find solutions to counter the cyber attacks. They can also exchange information on prevalent cyber security policies and best practices. The MoUs helps to strengthen the cyber space of signing countries, capacity building and improving the relationship between them.[9]

A memorandum of understanding was signed by CERT-In and Mastercard to foster collaboration and information exchange in the field of financial sector cyber security. Both parties will take advantage of their combined knowledge in the areas of advanced malware analysis, cybersecurity incident response, capacity building, and exchanging cyber threat intelligence relevant to the banking sector.[10]

In March 2014, CERT-In reported a critical flaw in Android Jelly Bean's VPN implementation.[11]

In July 2020, CERT-In warned Google Chrome users to immediately upgrade to the new Chrome browser version 84.0.4147.89. Multiple vulnerabilities that could allow access to hackers were reported.[12]

In April 2021, issued a "high severity" rating advisory on the vulnerability detected on WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business for Android prior to v2.21.4.18 and WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business for iOS prior to v2.21.32.[13]

According to the agency, India faced 11.5 million cyberattack incidents in 2021 including corporate attacks, and attacks on critical infrastructure and government agencies.[14]

On 4 December 2022, CERT-In was called in to investigate the cyber attack on All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.

On 19 July 2024, a computer outage relating to CrowdStrike tools in Microsoft systems was reported. CERT-In categorized the incident as "critical" and the IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnav said that the government is in touch with Microsoft and the issue will be resolved.[15][16]

## Guidelines

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The CERT-IN issues guidelines on cybersecurity and critical vulnerabilities, from time to time. In April 2022, the CERT-IN issued a set of directions requiring certain cyber security measures to be undertaken by companies,[17] including the following:

* Reporting of cyber incidents within six hours[18] to CERT-IN (which was limited to high-severity incidents through the FAQs;
* Maintenance of ICT logs within the territory of India.[19] Pursuant to the FAQs, they may be stored outside India, provided the requirement to store such logs outside India is met if logs can be produced as and when solicited by CERT-IN;
* Synchronization of system time clocks with Network Time Protocol servers of National Physical Laboratory or National Informatics Centre; and
* Additional obligations for VPN and VPS service providers.

Subsequently, the CERT-IN issued certain FAQs[20] which clarified and relaxed some of the aforesaid requirements.

## References

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1. ^ "techtarget.in". Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
2. ^ "first.org- About CERT-In". Retrieved 23 October 2013.
3. ^ a b "meity.gov.in -- CERT-In". Retrieved 21 October 2013.
4. ^ "Who's who". Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
5. ^ a b "Explained | What is CERT-In?". Onmanorama. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
6. ^ "As cyber attacks rise, government sounds alert". The Hindu. New Delhi, India. 26 December 2013.
7. ^ "Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launches Cyber Swachhta Kendra - Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre". Press Information Bureau. 22 February 2017.
8. ^ "CERT-In hosts Cyber Security Exercise "Synergy" for 13 countries as part of International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
9. ^ "Cabinet apprised of MoU between CERT-In India and CERT-UK". Business Standard. 13 October 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
10. ^ "Mastercard and CERT-In join hands to strengthen cybersecurity for financial sector". The Times of India. 20 June 2024. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
11. ^ "Android's Jelly Bean, Kit Kat under cyber threat in India: CERT-In". NDTV. New Delhi, India. 2 March 2014.
12. ^ IANS (21 July 2020). "Update your Google Chrome browser now to avoid hackers, says CERT-In". Business Standard India. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
13. ^ "WhatsApp Users Warned of Flaw That Could Leak Their Personal Data". NDTV Gadgets 360. 19 April 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
14. ^ "US cybersecurity provider SentinelOne opens India office in Bengaluru". The Hindu. 15 June 2022.
15. ^ "Massive Worldwide Microsoft Outage: Flights, Markets, Stock Exchange Down". NDTV.com. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
16. ^ Bureau (19 July 2024). "Microsoft Global Outage LIVE: Microsoft's Windows outage impacts airlines, financial institutions and broadcasters on a global scale". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 19 July 2024. `{{cite news}}`: `|last=` has generic name (help)
17. ^ "CERT-In issues directions relating to information security practices, procedure, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents for Safe & Trusted Internet". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
18. ^ Sameer Avasarala, Prashant Phillips. "Analyzing the new CERT-IN Directions: Wider gamut than breach reporting". lakshmisri.com. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
19. ^ Sengupta, Arun Prabhu, Arpita (24 May 2022). "The Cert-In Cyber Security Directions: More Questions Than Answers?". India Corporate Law. Retrieved 7 June 2024.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
20. ^ "Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) releases FAQs to address queries on Cyber Security Directions of 28.04.2022". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

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Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (India)

Agencies|

| NIC|

* Network
* Data Centers
* DigiLocker
* MyGov.in
* National Portal of India

|

IN Registry|

* .in
* .भारत

Other|

* Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification Directorate (STQC)
* Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA)
* Cyber Appellate Tribunal (CAT)
* Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (ICERT)

Companies|

* CSC e-Governance Services India Limited
* Media Lab Asia (MLAsia)
* National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) — PSE under National Informatics Centre
* National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)
* STPI
* Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

Autonomous
Societies|

* Education and Research in Computer Networking (ERNET)
* Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)
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* National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) — Formerly DOEACC Society
* Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER)
* Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)
* Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC)
* Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL)

Ministers|

* Ashwini Vaishnaw (incumbent)

Ministers of State|

* Jitin Prasada (incumbent)

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States
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