The Hon. Eranga Weeraratne - Deputy Minister of Digital Economy

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Digital Economy, I answer the Question raised by the Hon. Ravi Karunanayake and thank him for raising this important matter.

¶ 02 The Government acknowledges that cybersecurity has become a matter of national security and is essential for economic stability, public trust and digital sovereignty. With accelerated digitalization of public services—digital payments, identity systems, Cloud infrastructure and online citizen services—Sri Lanka’s exposure to cybercrime has increased. However, the Government has shifted from a reactive model to a coordinated national cyber-resilience model through policy developments, implementation of cybersecurity systems and guidelines, and awareness-building.

¶ 03 1. Based on Sri Lanka CERT’s Annual Reports and recent public communications, Sri Lanka has experienced a significant increase in reported cyber incidents in recent years. The following statistics represent cybersecurity-related incidents recorded through official reporting channels.

¶ 04 - 2023: Sri Lanka CERT recorded a total of 408 cybersecurity-related incidents, of which 58 were financial scams, 98 non-financial scams, 61 phishing attacks, 31 ransomware incidents, 37 website ...