Govt mulls over proposal to tackle cybercrime

Setting up centre to look into issue could cost Rs 500 crore

The Union Home Ministry is mulling an expert committee's proposal to set up a national centre to tackle cybercrime, which could cost Rs 500 crore to the exchequer.

The proposed India Cyber Crime Coordination Centre will be linked to NATGRID and Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, as well as special centres in states under the programme.

The national centre will also be tasked with developing an “Advanced Application for Social Media Analytics” to monitor social media activities related to the Ministries of Home, External Affairs, Defence and Information and Broadcasting, besides other government organisations.

Another task for the centre would be checking attempts from abroad to hack the government's official communication.

The recommendation for the centre is part of the report “Roadmap for Effectively Tackling Cybercrimes in the Country”, prepared by the expert group set up last December and submitted on Monday to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who asked the officials concerned to work on the recommendations.

Sources said the committee is also of the view that the government should reduce its dependence on foreign servers and ensure one dedicated secure gateway for all government communication. It also wants to explore the option of one gateway for Internet into India.

The panel also recommended to the Ministry fresh research in developing new technologies and forensic tools to combat cybercrimes. It wanted the government to set up cyber forensic labs in states and Union Territories besides amending cyber-laws in view of fast-changing technology.

The home minister expressed serious concern on the growth in cybercrimes, as revealed by National Crime Record Bureau statistics.

He asked his officials to come up with concrete proposals regarding infrastructure, research and people-friendly interface so the matter could be considered at the highest level in a well-defined time-frame.

He extensively dwelt on criminal and other activities on the Internet which directly impact the masses, particularly women and children, and the establishment of appropriate infrastructure to redress such grievances in a convenient and time-bound manner.