In news– Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) in collaboration with Power-CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams in Power sector), successfully designed & conducted the Cyber Security Exercise “PowerEX” recently.
The PowerEX exercise-
- The Objective of the exercise was to “Recognize, Analyse & Respond to Cyber Incidents in IT & OT Systems”.
- The theme of the exercise was “Defending Cyber induced disruption in IT & OT infrastructure”.
- Exercise “PowerEX” was hosted by CERT-In on its exercise simulation platform.
- It was conducted for 193 invited Power Sector Utilities.
About CERT-In-
- It is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India.
- It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking and phishing.
- It strengthens security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.
- It was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
- CERT-IN has overlapping responsibilities with other agencies such as National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) which is under the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) that comes under Prime Minister’s Office and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) which is under Ministry of Home Affairs.
- It liaisons with the Office of National Cyber Security Coordinator, National Security Council and National Information Board in terms of the nation’s cyber security and threats.
Its Functions-
In the Information Technology Amendment Act 2008,CERT-In has been designated to serve as the national agency to perform the following functions in the area of cyber security:
- Collection,analysis and dissemination of information on cyber incidents.
- Forecast and alerts of cyber security incidents
- Emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents
- Coordination of cyber incident response activities.
- Issue guidelines,advisories,vulnerability notes and whitepapers relating to information security practices,procedures, prevention,response and reporting of cyber incidents.
- Such other functions relating to cyber security as may be prescribed.
Source: PIB
