All officials in the ministries and various departments of the central government are undergoing a comprehensive training programme on cyber hygiene to tackle crimes such as phishing, financial frauds and hacking, News18 has learnt.
The training programme, which started two months ago, is being carried out by the Ministry of Home Affairs in phases, officials familiar with the matter said. All ministry officials have to compulsorily attend the programme.
According to the MHA’s circular issued last month, it is implementing the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) scheme to deal with cybercrimes in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, and one of its objectives is capacity building for government officials for cyber hygiene.
Stating that constant and frequent efforts are needed to remind every individual on principles of cyber hygiene, the MHA’s circular said changing scenarios in cyber space and technological advancements have upped its importance to ensure safety against cybercrimes.
It listed that habits such as shutting down computers, changing passwords at regular intervals, being cautious against clicking on phishing links and other suspicious websites as well as being careful in handling social media platforms, are useful in maintaining basic cyber hygiene.
The training programme is also meant to equip officials with the knowledge on digital risks and cybercrimes, and include case studies on latest instances of cyberattacks in India, common crimes carried out through a malware, social media, an overview of cyber laws and prevention and reporting mechanism.
The government websites have faced multiple instances of hacking in the recent past. According to the government data presented in Parliament in April this year, as many as 641 Twitter accounts, e-mails, websites related to the government were hacked in the last five years.
The instances are detected by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) which then notifies the affected organisation and suggests remedial actions.
In June this year, more than 500 websites of government entities and private institutions in India were hacked following the Prophet Muhammad controversy. The attack was reportedly carried out by a group called ‘DragonForce Malaysia’.
Launched in 2018 with a budget outlay of Rs 415.86 crore, the 14C initiative is meant to act as a nodal point in the fight against cybercrimes. According to the MHA, it is also meant to prevent misuse of cyber space “for furthering the cause of extremist and terrorist groups” and take up research and development activities in developing new technologies and forensic tools in collaboration with academia or research institutes.
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