While cybercrime is growing at a rate of 100% every three years and India is facing virtual threats from various neighbouring countries, there are states that don’t have a single specialised law enforcement unit to investigate such cases dedicatedly, according to information shared by the government. The states are following a traditional approach in dealing with cybercrime.
Even big states with large, vulnerable urban populations have only one or two cybercrime cells while it is emerging as a global threat.
A parliamentary standing committee on home affairs report on Thursday expressed “deep concerns” over the rise of cybercrime.
According to the details shared by the ministry of home affairs to the committee, states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa, Assam, etc, do not have a single cybercrime cell, while only one or two have been set up in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. The data shared in the report is up to January 1, 2020.
“In the report, Committee expresses its deep concerns over the rising rate of cyber crimes in the country. As per the information provided to the Committee, it is seen that some of the States like Punjab, Rajasthan, Goa, Assam do not have a single cyber crime cell, while in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, only one/two cyber crime cells have been set up. It observes that each day, cyber-criminals are using newer methods and new modus-operandi to commit cyber crimes,” the report of the committee headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma says. “Therefore, it is important for the police to stay updated on new modus-operandi and technology trends adopted by criminals. The Committee recommends that MHA may advise States to set up cyber cells in all the districts. The States should map the cyber crime hotspots which will help in quick detection of crimes and taking proactive measures to prevent cyber crimes.”
Sticky web
According to a news report in Mint quoting software company Norton LifeLock, over 59% of Indian adults fell victim to cybercrimes in the past year. The company surveyed more than 10,000 adults in 10 countries — Australia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US). Of these 1,000 were from India.
The report says that a whopping 27 million Indian adults were victims of identity theft in the past 12 months, and 52% of adults in the country do not know how to protect themselves from cybercrime.
The parliamentary committee also recommends upgrading the existing cyber cells by setting up dark web and social media monitoring cells to tackle different types of virtual crimes.
“To strengthen the investigation of inter-State crimes, the Committee recommends that MHA may advise States/UTs that when investigating officers visit outside their jurisdictional State for investigation of a cyber crime, they should be provided with optimum support from the law enforcement agencies of other States and UTs, as required,” the committee report says.
Another big challenge to counter cybercrime, according to the report, is with traditional police recruitments. “There is a need to induct technical experts in the police force. The Committee recommends that the MHA may encourage States/UTs to recruit qualified cyber experts/IT professionals to assist police in detecting, monitoring, preventing and investigating cyber crimes,” it says.
Training efforts
The home ministry has informed the committee that a specialised centre of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), namely National Digital Crime Resource & Training Centre (NDCRTC), set up in 2015, provides training in cybercrime investigation and cybersecurity to all law enforcement officers across the country. Some of the courses conducted by NDCRTC encompass the areas of disk forensics, mobile forensics and call detail record analysis, Windows forensics, internet-based crimes, network forensics, dark web, open-source intelligence, blockchain, social media analysis and investigation of digital payment frauds.
“NDCRTC has conducted over 290 physical courses and trained more than 8800 officers in the last five years from more than 24 organizations,” the committee report says.
Other measures
According to the ministry of home affairs, the state-of-the-art National Cyber Forensic Laboratory has been established, as a part of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), at CyPAD, Dwarka, New Delhi, to provide early-stage cyber forensic assistance to investigating officers (IOs) of state/UT police. Various online courses have been introduced for police personnel and judicial officers where they can learn critical aspects of cybercrime and can apply them during high-quality probes into such offences.
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