Driving Cyber Security Response for NIC NIC-CERT was established with the mandate of collectively leading State Ministries and coordinate with other stake-holders to mitigate cyber threats. The objective of NIC-CERT is to analyse, monitor and respond to cyber incidents on critical Government Cyber Infrastructure. It maintains a knowledge base of cyber incidents and details of their investigation and mitigation.
The Government of India has launched several initiatives to enhance citizen centric services that bring efficiency and transparency in the way e-governance services are delivered. The rapid adoption of Information Technology and e-enablement of the society has created a new set of cybersecurity challenges that need immediate attention. The dynamic and complex transformation of cybersecurity landscape has prompted the government to build nationwide cyber resilience to ensure that citizens are provided with continued access to services in a safe and secure manner.
National Informatics Centre (NIC), being a crucial stakeholder in all the e-governance initiatives taken at central, state and district level, ensures the cyber security of the Government’s ICT assets. It is the prime objective of NIC’s overall security strategy. To take forward this objective, NIC has taken the initiative of establishing NIC - Computer Emergency Response Team (NIC-CERT) to drive the cyber security incident response and co-ordination across NIC. To mark its inception, NIC-CERT was inaugurated by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad the Hon’ble Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & IT on 11th December 2017. The dignitaries were briefed by Smt. Neeta Verma (DG, NIC) and Shri. R. S. Mani (Head of Group) about the vision, mission and objectives of NIC-CERT. Shri Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), extolled the work done by NIC-CERT and emphasised the need of a safe and secure government network that also provides e-governance services to all the citizens.
The Hon’ble Minister commended the Director General, NIC and the entire NIC-CERT team for their sincere efforts and initiatives taken for the establishment of NIC-CERT. The Hon’ble Minister assured continuous support of MeitY to realise NIC-CERT’s vision. In view of his abundant experience, the Hon’ble Minister advised NIC-CERT to focus on the following three core areas:
Capacity Building Regular training to upskill manpower to maintain pace with the changing cyber landscape
NIC-CERT Core Areas Leverage Big Data Analytics Develop capabilities to efficiently analyse vast amounts of critical information to achieve precise real-time results
Provide Guidance & Support Take leadership in advising the Ministries & State Governments to ensure a coordinated cyber security strategy
A BRIEF OF NIC-CERT National Informatics Centre – Computer Emergency Response Team (NIC-CERT) Division, is the nodal arm of National Informatics Centre for managing the cyber security incidents in NIC. NIC-CERT shall act as a single point of contact and co-ordinate with concerned stakeholders for cyber security incidents targeted at NIC Infrastructure.
“The vision of NIC-Cert is to facilitate a safe and secure cyber space environment for users of NIC Services by providing timely cyber threat intelligence, advisory and best practice so as to proactively ward off malicious attacks or threats targeted at National Informatics Centre.”
CORE SERVICES OF NIC-CERT NIC-CERT was established with the mandate of collectively leading state ministries and coordinate with other stake-holders to mitigate cyber threats. It is responsible for maintaining and strengthening the cybersecurity posture of NIC infrastructure. The objective of NIC-CERT is to analyse, monitor and respond to cyber incidents on critical government cyber infrastructure. It maintains a knowledge base of cyber incidents and details of their investigation and mitigation. The core activities carried out by NIC-CERT are : • Co-ordination and response to cyber security attacks aimed at NIC infrastructure • Detection and mitigation of unusual activities, malware attacks on government systems • Proactively secure NIC’s network and assets by providing intelligence and advisory on threats and vulnerabilities • Coordination with CERT-In, NCIIPC and other relevant stakeholders regarding cyber security incidents and activities • Establish and maintain a centralised Log Management system for NIC • Maintaining a knowledge base of cyber security incidents handled by NIC-CERT • Development and evolution of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to handle cyber security incidents • Undertake capacity building activities to augment in-house cyber capability, skills and expertise • Development and operation of forensics lab for Windows OS and Mobile devices • Publish and circulate security advisories and vulnerability notes
Statistics of NIC-CERT security initiatives and activities 2 Million Cyber Attacks Prevented 0.7 Million Malware/ Trojan Infections Prevented 52 Advisories Published 91 Threat Intelligence Alerts Published 46000 Malicious Domains Blocked 200+ Vulnerabilities Identified & fixed 650 Govt. websites moved to SSL (https)
For latest security advisories and alerts, users can subscribe to NIC-CERT through website: https://nic-cert.nic.in