India’s national incident response agency, CERT-In, has been prominently featured in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 report on Fighting Cyber-Enabled Fraud, underscoring the country’s growing influence in global cybersecurity governance. The report, published in collaboration with the Institute for Security and Technology, highlights India’s rapid scale-up of digital fraud detection capabilities amid a surge in phishing attacks, financial cybercrimes, and AI-driven deception campaigns.
According to the WEF’s analysis, 2024 marked a breakthrough year for CERT-In’s technology stack. The agency leveraged artificial intelligence and situational-awareness systems to analyze more than 9,800 billion DNS queries, enabling early detection of malicious online patterns.
This large-scale traffic monitoring, WEF notes, is part of a global shift toward using machine learning for proactive threat intelligence instead of relying solely on incident-based response.
To read the full World Economic Forum report, click here
Mapping the Threat: 2.2 Billion Malicious Queries and 128 Million Phishing Domains
Among CERT-In’s most striking findings was the identification of 128 million phishing domains — detected within a pool of 2.2 billion malicious DNS queries. These numbers point to the expanding sophistication of criminal infrastructures built to mimic legitimate services, lure victims, and automate fraudulent campaigns.
Cyber analysts say such infrastructure is increasingly linked to transnational crime networks that exploit low-cost cloud hosting, botnets, and AI tools to scale their operations.
While India has faced a sharp rise in digital fraud in recent years — including payment scams, account takeovers, and impersonation attacks — CERT-In’s detection work is now providing valuable intelligence to both domestic agencies and international partners.
The WEF report notes that real-time insights from large-scale DNS analysis are becoming a foundational requirement for countries combating cyber-enabled financial crime.
AI and Situational Awareness Become Strategic Tools
CERT-In’s expanded use of artificial intelligence forms a central part of the report’s narrative. The agency has integrated machine-learning systems with national cyber-defense platforms to automate identification of anomalies, detect malicious traffic clusters, and prioritize threats.
Officials familiar with CERT-In’s operations say these tools allow analysts to correlate data across government systems, telecom networks, and major digital-service providers.
This approach aligns with a broader global trend: law-enforcement and cybersecurity agencies increasingly adopting AI-powered heuristics to counter adversaries who rely on automation, deepfake engines, and rapid-changing digital identities.
The WEF emphasizes that India’s application of these tools at national scale has made CERT-In’s work a “model of emerging-market cyber governance,” particularly for countries attempting to manage massive digital populations.
A Growing Role in the International Fight Against Digital Fraud
The report’s acknowledgment comes at a time when phishing and online fraud remain among the fastest-growing criminal threats worldwide. The economic damage from cyber-enabled fraud has escalated, with losses now surpassing billions annually across developing and advanced economies alike.
India’s CERT-In has increasingly collaborated with foreign agencies, global financial institutions, and technology firms to respond to these threats. Officials say intelligence generated from DNS-level monitoring has played a role in recent multinational fraud disruptions.
Yet experts caution that the scale of malicious activity — reflected in billions of suspicious queries — underscores the enormity of the challenge ahead. The WEF notes that global threat actors continue to innovate, making cross-border coordination essential.
Still, CERT-In’s recognition in the 2025 report signals that India’s cyber-defense infrastructure is becoming a central pillar in the international effort to curb online fraud.
To read the full World Economic Forum report, click here
