G20 Website Saw 16 Lakh Attacks Within 60 Seconds of Its Launch: MHA's I4C CEO

India faced a massive cybersecurity challenge during the G20 Summit, with 16 lakh attacks within the first 60 seconds of its website launch, Rajesh Kumar, CEO of I4C under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), revealed on Wednesday. It means, on an average, more than 26,000 attacks were reported in one second.

Speaking to the media, Kumar acknowledged a subsequent dip in attack volume, but highlighted the challenges in establishing the sources of these Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks.

DDoS, a form of cybercrime, inundates a server with internet traffic, hindering user access to online services. The MHA’s coordination centre, led by Kumar, tackles cybercrime, collaborating with the central and state investigation and intelligence agencies. Despite efforts, determining the origin country or source of these attacks remains a challenge, the top MHA officer said.

EAST, SOUTH HUB OF CYBER FRAUDSTERS

The data shared by Kumar at the first annual press conference of I4C showed that the eastern and southern parts of the country are hubs of cyber-enabled financial frauds.

Customer care number, refund-based frauds, KYC, expiry, etc. accounted for 35% of the frauds, sextortion, which the officer said mainly originated from Mewat, accounted for 24%, and online booking and fake franchise QR-code based financial frauds accounted for 22% of total cyber frauds originated in India.

Investment frauds (38%) from outside the country topped the chart, followed by illegal loan lending apps (23%) and gaming apps (21%).

OCTOBER REPORTED HIGHEST CASES

According to the MHA data, October saw maximum complaints of online financial frauds in 2023. The officer said that 1,38,258 complaints were reported in October, followed by December. The number was the lowest in January 2023, which is almost half of the October data. Around Rs 10,300 crore were siphoned off from the country by cybercriminals since April 1, 2021. Kumar told the media that 15.56 lakh cases were reported on the NCRP in 2023.

CYBERCRIME TRENDS

On an average, more than 5,000 cyber complaints were registered per day, the data showed, with a 60.9% rise last year, compared to 13.7% from 2021 to 2022. The number of complaints has risen at least 500%, from close to 2.57 lakh complaints in 2020 to 15.56 lakh in 2023. The data revealed that states such as Haryana, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa topped in reporting cybercrimes, while Chandigarh reported the highest number of cases in union territories.

Rs 1,127 CR OF 4.3 LAKH VICTIMS SAVED

The swift action by the I4C helped saved Rs 1,127 crore of 4.3 lakh victims, while at least 50,000 are being assisted. The amount saved has risen almost 800% in one year.

WEBSITES, APPS BLOCKED

While Chinese loan and betting apps are still being used to target Indians, at least 2.95 lakh SIM cards were blocked in 2023. According to the data, I4C also successfully blocked 2,810 websites, 595 mobile apps and 46,229 IMEI numbers. Kumar said that more than 263 banks e-commerce companies and others have been integrated to control cybercrimes. Last year, 12,12,063 calls related to financial frauds on the helpline, 1930, were answered as of December 2023.

50% crimes are from abroad

According to the data shared by the CEO of I4C, around 50% of cyber attacks are being committed by “gangs” operating from Cambodia, Vietnam, China and other countries. The officer said that India is in touch with these countries regarding the frauds.