Bengaluru, Oct 5 (IANS): The Karnataka government is framing a new cyber security policy to minimise risks in digital services and transactions, Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said on Monday.

"In view of the increasing use of digital mode for transactions, we are framing a new cyber security policy to reduce risks in delivering public services and transactions," said Narayan, while inaugurating the 'October cyber security awareness month programme' at the state secretariat here.

The tech-savvy state government is conducting month-long programmes related to cyber security awareness in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Karnataka Innovation & Technology Society.

"Robust cyber security has become imperative due to rapid adoption of IT (information technology) solutions for delivering public services digitally," said Narayan, who holds the IT, Biotechnology, and Science and Technology portfolios.

October is observed as cyber security awareness month globally.

"The new policy will address the needs of all the stakeholders, including citizens, industry, students and government departments, which are all involved in digital transactions," Narayan said.

Quoting from a report of the US-based Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the minister said the number of complaints of cyber attacks has shot up to 4,000 per day, registering a whopping 400 per cent increase before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out early this year.

"Besides phishing, there has been a surge in malware and ransom attacks, as cyber criminals have launched thousands of fraud portals under the pretext of collecting donation for the cause of coronavirus," Narayan pointed out.

As per the FBI report, India ranked third among top 20 countries in cyber crimes. Defacement of websites and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are malicious attempts to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network and have become the latest threats in the cyber space.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has given an advisory, explaining the coronavirus pandemic-based cyber-attacks.

The majority of the attacks are done via phishing emails, malicious advertisements on websites and third-party applications and programmes.

"Attacks on computers, routers, and unprotected home networks in the present work-from-home situation are also on the rise," Narayan added.

National Cyber Security Coordinator Rajesh Pant spoke on the importance of cybersecurity and threats to the country's IT infrastructure from varied sources.