[image: Government to Set Up Apex Cyber Crime Coordination Centre]*NewDelhi:* To deal with cyber crimes such as financial frauds, circulation ofcommunal and pornographic contents, the Union Home Ministry is planning toset up an apex coordination centre and has asked states to establish asimilar mechanism in every district.
It has also released Rs 83 crore for setting up of a cyber forensictraining laboratory-cum-training centre for police officials in each state.The funds were given under the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women andChildren Scheme, a Home Ministry official told PTI.
The apex centre — Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) — would beset up in Delhi.
It would coordinate with state governments and union territories, andclosely monitor the cyberspace and social media with due emphasis onvernacular content.
The centre would also block those websites which flout India’s laws andcirculate child porn, and communally and racially sensitive content.
The official, requesting anonymity, said that the centre would maintain alist of suspects and the leads generated during investigations incybercrime cases would be shared with law enforcement agencies through a”secured internal network”.
State governments have also been asked to set up a state cybercrimecoordination cell at the headquarter-level and also establish districtcyber crime cells.
The ministry has already created a new wing — Cyber and InformationSecurity Division — to deal with the new-age challenge.
The move came in the wake of 1,44,496 cyber security attacks observed inthe country during 2014-16.
Over a period of time, there has been a phenomenal increase in the use ofcomputers, smartphones and internet. With this increase, cyber crimes haveemerged as a major challenge for law enforcement agencies, the officialsaid.
“The cybercrime cases are of varied types. These range from defacement ofgovernment websites, online financial frauds, online stalking andharassment, and data thefts. Each requires specialised investigative skillsets and forensic tools,” another official said.
Cybercrime cases pose technical, legal and administrative challenges in aninvestigation which require strengthening of the institutional mechanism.
Phishing, scanning or probing, website intrusions and defacements, virus ormalicious code and denial of service attacks are some types of cybercrimes.
National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) states that 5,693, 9,622 and 11,592cyber crime cases were registered during 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively,showing a rise of 69 percent during 2013 to 2014 and 20 per cent increaseduring 2014 to 2015.
The Home ministry has also advised the states to expedite setting up ofcyber and mobile forensic labs and to identify the need for research anddevelopment in specific areas of cyberspace.
The states were asked to come up with suggestions for amendments in legaland policy framework dealing with such crimes.TRENDING NOW