Govt To Create Suspect Registry To Strengthen Cyber Crime Defence

The government aims to create a central registry of suspects to crackdown on the rising instances of cyber crimes in the country.

Union home minister Amit Shah inaugurated the registry during the annual foundation day programme of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C). He also launched other initiatives like creation of cyber commandos, and the Samanvay platform (Joint Cyber ​​Crime Investigation Facility System) to tackle cyber crimes.

The home minister also dedicated the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) to the nation.

In his address, Shah said that in a country as vast as India, it is necessary to have a national cyber suspect registry to keep track of cyber criminals across states rather than a state-wise registry. The national platform will help prevent cyber crimes, he said. 

Speaking about I4C, which was set up under the Ministry of Home Affairs nine years ago to deal with cyber crimes in the country, Shah said it has issued more than 600 advisories, blocked a wide range of websites, social media pages, mobile apps and accounts operated by cyber criminals. 

“Cybersecurity is an integral part of national security. We must ensure cybersecurity as without cybersecurity, the country’s progress is not possible,” he said. 

Here’s a detailed look at the new initiatives announced/launched today: 

• Suspect Registry: The registry will allow threat identification of cyber criminals on the basis of the data of National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP). It will see I4C collaborate with banks and financial intermediaries to strengthen fraud risk management capabilities of the financial ecosystem.
• Cyber Commandos: The programme will see the incorporation of a special wing at the I4C to train police officials from across the country to better deal with cyber security threats. The government plans to train 5,000 cyber commandos in the next five years.
• CFMC: It will provide a platform for representatives of banks, financial intermediaries, payment aggregators, telecom service providers, IT Intermediaries, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) of states and UTs to work together for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle online financial crimes. Besides, it will work on the identification of modus operandi of cyber criminals using different data and prevent it.
• Samanvay Platform: The joint cyber crime investigation facility will act as a one-stop portal for data repository of cyber crime, data sharing, crime mapping, data analytics, cooperation and coordination platform for law enforcement agencies across the country.

The development comes at a time when the number of cyber crimes are on the rise in the country. Most recently, a cyber attack on crypto platform WazirX led to users losing investments to the tune of $230 Mn. 

Besides, cyber criminals managed to transfer INR 40 Cr from IndusInd bank’s customers into various mule accounts in July. Police officials of Maharashtra cyber cell retrieved INR 33 Cr later. 

In August, the government informed the Parliament that at least 73 Lakh mobile connections were disconnected till date as part of the Centre’s crackdown on cyber frauds. Further, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) launched ‘Digital Intelligence Platform’ (DIP) and ‘Chakshu’ facility to counter the digital menace in March.