Maharashtra Sets Up Cyber Command Centre To Curb Cybercrimes

The Maharashtra government has set up an advanced cyber command and control centre in Navi Mumbai in partnership with L&T Technology Services as part of its effort to curb the cybercrimes.

Touted to be India’s first state-level cyber command centre, the facility was inaugurated by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday (October 11).

The centre, set to become fully operational by October 15, is part of the INR 837 Cr Maharashtra cyber security project. The project was approved last year with the aim of curtailing the growing number of fraudulent schemes on social media platforms, such as WhatsApp and Facebook, and preventing other cyber attacks.

“Maharashtra’s digital future is safer with Maha Cyber – Maharashtra Cyber Security Project,”  Fadnavis said in a post on X.

The control and command centre will have over 150 experts working round the clock to register and resolve the complaints of cybercrime victims in a timely manner. Once the complaints have been lodged, emails will be sent to banks to freeze the accounts of victims. 

Maha Cyber Security Command Centre has a dedicated helpline that can be reached 24 hours a day at 14407. Additionally, the government plans to train 5,000 police personnel annually as part of the initiative.

Apart from the dedicated cyber command and control centre, the Maharashtra cyber project will have several other departments such as a technology assisted investigation centre with advanced digital forensics tool, CERT – Maharashtra with AI-based threat intelligence tools, security operations centre and a cyber centre of excellence.

The development comes at a time when a wave of cyber attacks has swept Maharashtra and the country. Earlier this year, cybercrime sleuths reportedly unearthed a syndicate that tricked villagers in Maharashtra’s Nanded and Dharmabad into opening mule accounts. Fraudsters used these accounts to park laundered money, crediting farmers’ accounts with lakhs of rupees every month.

A few years ago, cyber fraudsters hacked many cooperative banks in Maharashtra, wiping out crores of rupees from accounts of a large number of customers. 

However, the menace of cyber crime is not limited to Maharashtra. In a recent report, the Reserve Bank of India said that the number of online frauds in the country surged 334% year-on-year (YoY) to 29,082 in the financial year 2023-24 (FY24).

Further, India-based businesses faced over 3,000 cyber attacks in Q2 2024, second only to Taiwanese firms in the APAC region, according to a report by Check Point Research.

The country reportedly lost INR 177.05 Cr to cyber frauds in FY24, more than double the INR 69.68 Cr it lost in FY23 on account of credit, debit card and internet banking frauds.

However, the Centre has taken several initiatives to clamp down on the rising tide of cyber frauds. For instance, it has disabled over 70 Lakh mobile connections till date, which were obtained through fake or forged documents.

To strengthen the mechanism of preventing cyber attacks, the government has also set up the ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’, which has already helped save more than INR 2,400 Cr from being syphoned off by fraudsters.