With growing instances of cyber attacks on the country's vital systems like power, railways, aviation and defence, the government on Monday announced the setting up of an expert vigilance agency to tackle any possible hacking or virus attacks.
Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) would provide reactive and proactive services for enhancing cyber security, IT and Communications Minister Arun Shourie said in New Delhi.
"There are acupuncture points in integrated systems like power supply systems, railway signaling systems, stock markets, and any attack on these points would disable many services. In such a case the consequences for the civilian society can be disorientation and enemy can take advantage of that," Shourie said.
He read out a message by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani which said that CERT-In would address the security concerns of critical computer networks of India besides serving the cyber community through effective awareness campaigns.
Citing the example of China cyber warfare which provided training for hacking of the systems, Shourie said that the nation could ill-afford any complacency.
According to an estimate, as many as 1,687 Indian websites were hacked in 2003 when compared with hacking of 288 websites in 2002.
The projected loss due to hacking and virus attacks in 2003 is likely to be $119-145 billion.
© 2025