Cybercrimes like digital arrest, sextortion, online fraud, and cyberattacks have jumped fourfold over the last four years, the government has informed Parliament.
In a written reply, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the number of reported cybercrimes exceeded 22 lakh in 2024 as compared to 4.5 lakh in 2021, a jump of over 401 per cent.
Gujarat, Odisha, and Karnataka have witnessed the highest rate of increase in cybercrime over the last four years—824 per cent, 783 per cent, and 763 per cent, respectively.
By June 30 this year, the number had already clocked 12 lakh, significantly higher than the annual cybercrime figures reported in 2022 and 2021. In 2025, Maharashtra is the worst-affected state with 1.6 lakh cases of cybercrimes, followed by Uttar Pradesh (1.4 lakh) and Karnataka (1 lakh).
Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have consistently ranked as the top two most affected states of cybercrimes over the past three years.
CHILDREN ON TARGET
What’s more appalling is the rising number of cyber crimes against children. The ministry’s data showed that more than 3,000 cases were related to the sharing and dissemination of child pornography between 2018 and 2022. In this period, over 500 cases of cyber stalking against children under 18 years of age were also registered.
This trend has been increasing year by year. Online crime against children rose by 25 per cent in 2021 and 32.5 per cent in 2022. The online crimes included in these numbers include those involving social media, chat rooms, and online gaming environments.
Last year, India Today’s Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) team unearthed a network of Telegram channels sharing child pornography in bulk. Telegram subsequently removed these accounts.
CYBERATTACKS
Incidents of cyberattacks have also been rising rapidly. According to a 2025 report by the think tank Data Security Council of India (DSCI), India witnessed an average of 761 cyberattack attempts per minute last year. The healthcare sector was the primary target, followed by hospitality and banking.
Following the Pahalgam terror attack in 2025, India faced a major escalation — over 15 lakh cyberattacks were attempted against the country’s critical infrastructure, including defence, power, telecom, finance, and transportation sectors. These coordinated attempts were carried out by Pakistan and allied hacking groups.
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