CERT-In and Section 70B
In one line: CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) is India's national agency for responding to cyber security incidents.
Basics
CERT-In was formed on 19 January 2004 and is an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It functions under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which designates it as the national agency for incident response.
What it does
It collects and analyses information on cyber incidents, issues alerts and advisories, coordinates responses and publishes guidelines. Section 70B(6) lets it call for information and issue directions to service providers, intermediaries, data centres, companies and government bodies. Section 70B(7) provides for imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to ₹1 lakh, or both, for failing to comply.
Why it is in the news
Its 15 October 2026 advisory on AI agents is rated critical.
Where to go next
- CERT-In Directions of 2022
- AI agent
CERT-In and Section 70B in the news
- CERT-In gets access to Anthropic's Mythos AI model, plans slow, cautious testing 4 November 2026
The law that makes CERT-In India's cyber first responder.
- CERT-In issues critical advisory after AI agents accessed Indian firms' systems unnoticed 17 October 2026
The national nodal agency and its legal basis.
Previous-year questions on this
- 2023 · GS3 · 10 marks Introduce the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI). How does AI help clinical diagnosis? Do you perceive any threat to privacy of the individual in the use of AI in the healthcare?
- 2022 · GS3 · 15 marks What are the different elements of cyber security? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber…
- 2018 · GS3 · 15 marks Data security has assumed significant importance in the digitized world due to rising cyber-crimes. The Justice B. N. Srikrishna Committee Report addresses issues related to data security. What, in…
- 2015 · GS3 · 12.5 marks Discuss the advantage and security implication of cloud hosting of servers vis-a-vis in house machine based hosting for government business.