New Delhi, February 13 Approximately 3.03 crore suspicious user IDs were deactivated in 2025 to prevent automated form filling by hacking tools and to curb fraud in online Tatkal ticketing, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
In a written response, Vaishnaw informed the House about the various steps taken by the railway ministry to protect the Tatkal ticket booking system from cyber attacks, and said that Aadhaar-based one-time password (OTP) verification has contributed to improved ticket availability for genuine passengers and enhanced transparency.
He also mentioned various other methods, such as application-layer security control, network and infrastructure-layer security control, physical security control, as well as regular security audits and monitoring, to ensure that the reservation system of Indian Railways is a robust and highly-secure platform equipped with industry-standard cybersecurity.
Highlighting the administrative measures, which include steps to prevent unauthorized access and ensure seamless booking for genuine users, he said, "Rigorous revalidation and verification of user accounts have been carried out. Approximately 3.03 crore suspicious user IDs have been deactivated in the year 2025."
Regular security audits of the reservation system are carried out by the information security audit agencies of CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team), Vaishnaw noted.
"Moreover, internet traffic related to the ticketing system is continuously monitored by CERT-In and the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to detect and prevent cyber attacks," he added.
According to Vaishnaw, 376 complaints have been lodged on the National Cyber Crime Portal pertaining to 3.99 lakh suspicious bookings, and 12,819 suspicious email domains have been blocked in the year 2025.