Context

• The Tamil Nadu police, through the Cyber Crime wing, recently arrested 70 individuals involved in 135 cyber-crime cases registered across the State under the special operation ‘Thiraineeku’.

Cyber crime becomes organized crime

• Cyber crime has today taken the form of an organized economic crime which is operated by cross-border crime syndicates.
• The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs works to combat and prevent cyber crime in the country.

Home Ministry's efforts to prevent cyber crime

• The organization works closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs, other ministries and their agencies, RBI and other organizations to combat online fraud.
• The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center also provides inputs and technical assistance to the police officers of states and union territories to identify and investigate cyber crime cases.
• I4C, in collaboration with Microsoft, has also blocked over 1000 Skype IDs involved in such activities.
• The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center has also issued various alerts through infographics and videos on its social media platform ‘Cyberdost X’, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms.
• Citizens are advised to beware of such frauds and spread awareness about them. Upon receiving such calls, citizens are advised to immediately report to cyber crime helpline number 1930 or www.cybercrime.gov.in for assistance.

Government initiatives to tackle cyber crimes in India

• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C)
• National Cyber Forensic Laboratory
• CyTrain Portal
• National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal
• Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System
• Cyber Crime Prevention Against Women and Children (CCPWC) Scheme
• Joint Cyber Coordination Team
• Central assistance for modernization of police

Important Facts For Exam

CERT-In

• It is a nodal agency tasked with tackling cyber security threats like hacking and phishing.
• Ministry: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
• CERT-In has been operational since January 2004.

Functions of CERT-In

• As per the Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008, CERT-In has been designated as the national agency to perform the following functions in the field of cyber security:
• Collection, analysis and dissemination of information on cyber incidents.
• Forecasting and alerting cyber security incidents.
• Emergency measures to deal with cyber security incidents.
• Coordination of cyber incident response activities etc.