Nationwide awareness campaign on Safer Internet Day to promote safe and responsible use of the internet

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) spearheaded a nationwide awareness campaign on Safer Internet Day, observed on February 11, 2025, to promote safe and responsible use of the internet. Organized under the theme ‘Together for a Better Internet’, the campaign aimed to educate and sensitize internet users about cyber hygiene, online safety practices, and emerging cyber threats. This initiative was conducted under the Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) program in collaboration with NIC, NIXI, C-DAC, NIELIT, MyGov, NeGD, and various partner institutions. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) played a crucial role in amplifying the outreach efforts through its extensive digital infrastructure and communication networks.

Cyber awareness drive

As part of this extensive campaign, 1,521 awareness workshops were conducted across 35 States/UTs, 599 districts, 493 blocks/tehsils, and 134 gram panchayats, reaching over 3.08 lakh beneficiaries. These workshops covered key topics such as cyber threat mitigation, digital security best practices, and responsible online behavior. Additionally, a series of expert talks, quizzes, and competitions were organized to further reinforce awareness.

Strengthening digital resilience

To maximize outreach, promotional messages and expert interviews were broadcasted on a Pan India basis in 11 major Indian languages, covering vital topics such as cyber hygiene practices, common cyber threats, and the mechanism for reporting cybercrimes through the toll-free National Cybercrime Helpline Number (1930). These messages were disseminated through FM stations, Prasar Bharati, and Vividh Bharati networks, achieving an estimated reach of 2.27 crore listeners. On digital platforms, social media outreach led by MyGov, NIC, and ISEA teams garnered over 5.49 lakh impressions and 63.57 lakh views through 680 creative posts.

An online awareness workshop, titled ‘Navigating the Digital Highway: Safeguarding Your Online Journey’, was also organized for the officials of MeitY and other government ministries, departments, and organizations, engaging 1,217 participants in discussions on digital safety. The session sensitized participants on best cybersecurity practices and also provided demonstrations of insightful security tools, such as PIC2MAP, deviceinfo.me, coveryourtracks.eff.org, stopNCII.org, SecureEraser app, etc. which help in verifying online content authenticity, preventing identity fraud, analyzing device fingerprints, and securing personal data. The workshop was highly appreciated by participants for its practical approach and relevance in addressing contemporary cybersecurity challenges.

About ISEA

The Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Project, implemented by MeitY, aims to strengthen cybersecurity awareness and build skilled human resources in Information Security. The recently approved ISEA Phase-III (October 2023) seeks to develop 2.25 lakh trained individuals in cybersecurity over five years, including 45,000 skilled and certified cybersecurity professionals (CISOs, Deputy CISOs, and aspirants) and 2.3 lakh students and researchers in formal and non-formal courses. Additionally, the project aims to cover over 12 crore beneficiaries from diverse backgrounds—school children, teachers, college students, faculty, women, senior citizens, government employees, MSMEs, and NGOs—through mass awareness initiatives under the Cyber Aware Digital Naagrik campaign.

Bharat NCX 2024 Officially Inaugurated: Strengthening Cyber Defense and Strategic Decision-Making Across India

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The Bharat National Cyber Security Exercise (Bharat NCX 2024), a landmark initiative to fortify India’s cybersecurity resilience, was inaugurated today at a high-profile ceremony organized by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) in collaboration with Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU). The 12-day exercise is a critical step in preparing India’s cybersecurity professionals and leadership to tackle evolving threats with advanced cyber defense, incident response capabilities, and strategic decision-making.

In his Inaugural Address, Lt Gen M. U. Nair, PVSM, AVSM, SM (Retd), the National Cyber Security Coordinator, stated, “Bharat NCX 2024 equips our nation’s cyber defenders and leaders with the skills to mitigate complex threats. From technical exercises to strategic decision-making, this initiative ensures our preparedness to manage crises at all levels.”

Prof. (Dr.) Bimal N. Patel, Vice Chancellor of RRU, delivered the Keynote Address, highlighting the integration of education, research, and innovation in addressing cybersecurity challenges. He remarked, “This exercise not only strengthens technical skills but also prepares leadership to navigate national-level cyber crises through informed decision-making.”

Key Features of Bharat NCX 2024: The exercise includes immersive training on cyber defense and incident response, live-fire simulations of cyberattacks on IT and OT systems, and collaborative platforms for government and industry stakeholders. A Strategic Decision-Making Exercise will bring together senior management from across sectors to simulate decision-making in a national-level cyber crisis, enhancing their ability to respond to high-pressure situations with strategic acumen. The CISO’s Conclave will feature Chief Information Security Officers from government, public, and private sectors sharing insights, participating in panel discussions, and exploring the latest trends and government initiatives in cybersecurity. On the sidelines, the Bharat Cybersecurity Startup Exhibition will showcase innovative solutions from Indian startups, emphasizing their role in enhancing the nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure. The exercise also highlights leadership engagement and capacity building, fostering a unified approach to emerging cyber challenges.

The event runs from November 18 to November 29, 2024, culminating in a comprehensive debrief to consolidate lessons learned and establish best practices in cybersecurity.

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Safeguard yourself knowing Cyber security!

As per Information Technology Act, 2000, “Cyber security means protecting information,
equipment, devices computer, computer resource, communication device and information
stored therein from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or
destruction.”

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1.1. Cyberspace
India’s Cyber Security Policy 2013 defines cyberspace as a complex environment comprising
interaction between people, software and services, supported by worldwide distribution of
information and communication technology devices and networks.

1.2. Cyber threats
Cyber threats can be disaggregated into four baskets based on the perpetrators and their
motives – Cyber Espionage, Cyber Crime, Cyber Terrorism, Cyber Warfare.
1.2.1. Cyber Crime/ Cyber Attacks
Cyber-attack is “any type of offensive maneuver employed by individuals or whole organizations
that targets computer information systems, infrastructures, computer networks with an
intention to damage or destroy targeted computer network or system.”
These attacks can be labeled either as Cyber-campaign, Cyber-warfare or Cyber-terrorism
depending upon the context, scale and severity of attacks. Cyber-attacks can range from
installing spyware on a PC to attempts to destroy the critical infrastructure of entire nations.
1.2.2. Cyber terrorism
Acts of Terrorism related to cyber space or act of terrorism executed using Cyber technologies is
popularly known as ‘cyber terrorism’.
“Cyber terrorism is the convergence of terrorism and cyber space. It is generally
understood to mean unlawful attacks and threats of attacks against computers,
networks, and information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce a
government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives, Further, to
qualify as cyber terrorism, an attack should result in violence against persons or
property or at least cause enough harm to generate fear, Serious attacks against critical
infrastructures could be acts of cyber terrorism depending upon their impact.”
It should be noted here that if they create panic by attacking critical systems/infrastructure,
there is no need for it to lead to violence. In fact such attacks can be more dangerous.
Besides, terrorists also use cyberspace for purposes like planning terrorist attacks, recruiting
sympathizers, communication purposes, command and control, spreading propaganda in form
of malicious content online to brain wash, funding purposes etc. It is also used as a new arena
for attacks in pursuit of the terrorists’ political and social objectives.

Cyber Security has assumed strategic and critical importance because of following reasons:
• Cyberspace has become key component in the formulation and execution of public policies.
• It is used by government to process and store sensitive and critical data which if
compromised can have devastating impact.
• Taking down cyberspace will result into disruption of many critical public services like railways,
defense systems, communication system, banking and other financial system etc.
• Several states are developing the capabilities in the area of cyber attacks which can alter
outcomes in the battlefield.
• Individuals are using internet based services at a growing pace making them vulnerable to
cybercrimes, such as- online bank frauds, surveillance, profiling, violation of privacy etc.

Government has taken a number of steps to acquire and increase capacity in the field of
cyber security. Some of which are discussed below.

National Cybersecurity Policy 2013

Information Technology Act 2000 (As Amended in 2008)

National Telecom Policy 2012,etc.

Cyber Crimes and Privacy.

Words and expressions that barely existed 10 years prior are presently essential for our regular language, as hoodlums utilize new advancements to submit cyberattacks against governments, organizations and people. These violations know no boundaries, either physical or virtual, cause genuine mischief and posture genuine dangers to casualties around the world.

Cybercrime is advancing at an amazingly high speed, with recent fads continually arising. Cybercriminals are turning out to be more spry, abusing new advances with lightning speed, fitting their assaults utilizing new strategies, and helping out one another in manners we have not seen previously. Complex criminal organizations work across the world, planning multifaceted assaults surprisingly fast. Police should in this manner stay up with new advancements, to comprehend the conceivable outcomes they make for hoodlums and how they can be utilized as apparatuses for battling cybercrime.

There are numerous protection concerns encompassing Cybercrime when classified data is caught or revealed, legally or something else. Globally, both legislative and non-state entertainers take part in cybercrimes, including secret activities, monetary burglary, and other cross-line wrongdoings. Cybercrimes crossing worldwide boundaries and including the activities of no less than one country state are now and then alluded to as cyberwarfare. Warren Buffet portrays Cybercrime as the “number one issue with mankind.Computer extortion is any untrustworthy distortion of reality expected to let another to do or shun accomplishing something which causes misfortune. In this specific circumstance, the misrepresentation will bring about acquiring an advantage by:

Changing in an unapproved way. This requires minimal specialized ability and is a typical type of robbery by workers modifying the information before section or entering bogus information, or by entering unapproved directions or utilizing unapproved measures; Changing, obliterating, stifling, or taking yield, as a rule to hide unapproved exchanges. This is hard to distinguish , Changing or erasing put away information Government authorities and data innovation security experts have archived a huge expansion in Internet issues and worker examines since mid 2001. There is a developing worry among government offices like the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that such interruptions are important for a coordinated exertion by cyberterrorist unfamiliar insight administrations, or different gatherings to plan potential security openings in basic frameworks. A cyberterrorist is somebody who threatens or forces an administration or an association to propel their political or social destinations by dispatching a PC based assault against computers, organizations, or the data put away on them.

Cyberterrorism, as a rule, can be characterized as a demonstration of psychological warfare submitted using the internet or PC assets (Parker 1983). Thusly, a basic publicity piece on the Internet that there will be bomb assaults during special times of year can be viewed as cyberterrorism. There are additionally hacking exercises coordinated towards people, families, coordinated by bunches inside networks, having a tendency to cause dread among individuals, exhibit power, gathering data important for demolishing people groups’ lives, burglaries, extorting, and so on.

The Struggle against Ransomware

115 milliseconds, that’s the amount of time a new technology — developed by researchers from Australia’s national science agency and a university in South Korea — takes to detect that ransomware has detonated on a computer and block it from causing further damage. As hackers execute bolder attacks with bigger potential payouts, computer scientists are pushing the limits of software to make near-instantaneous decisions and save victims from ruin.

Ransomware is a type of cyberattack that encrypts files on victims’ computers, rendering them useless until a ransom is paid. It can take just minutes to cripple an entire network.

The recent hacks of Colonial Pipeline Co., which shut the biggest gasoline pipeline in the U.S. for nearly a week, and of JBS SA, which temporarily shut all U.S. beef plants for the largest meat producer globally, have exposed drawbacks in protection for industries. Colonial paid a $4.4 million ransom, while JBS paid $11 million.

Endpoint Protection Software are cybersecurity tools that protect “end user” devices such as laptops and desktop computers, which are vulnerable to being hacked through their users clicking on malicious links or phishing emails. some of the leading companies offering Endpoint Detection software include SentinelOne Inc., Cybereason Inc., Microsoft Corp. and CrowdStrike Holdings Inc.

The innovation of that software is that it blocks files deemed to be malicious — what traditional antivirus does — and goes a step further, automating the hunt for suspicious behavior on users’ machines, aiming to identify poisoned code before it causes damage.

One of the few ways to get ahead of the problem is to have security software running deep inside a computer’s operating system. There, it can see each program running on the machine and have the best shot at distinguishing between legitimate and malicious ones.

But according to Oliver Spence, co-founder of U.K.-based North Star Cyber Security, “Solving ransomware is magnitudes harder than solving spam and that isn’t solved yet,” he said. “How do you tell which email is legitimate or not? How do I tell if a process is legitimate or not? Solve either problem completely, and you are well on your way to being rich enough to retire.”

One challenge of staying ahead of the problem is that skilled hackers routinely test their code and techniques against the latest security software, adapting when needed to evade detection, said Andrew Howard, chief executive officer of Switzerland-based Kudelski Security, said Andrew Howard, chief executive officer of Switzerland-based Kudelski Security.

“Ransomware attacks today are typically human-operated, meaning that a human is actively guiding the attack,” Howard said. “As the defenses get better, this drives new offensive techniques, which drives better defenses, which drives new offensive techniques, and so forth. There is not a 100% effective technical solution for this problem.”

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