Cyber security an integral part of national security: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said cyber security is no longer just an issue of economic security but linked to national security and it is the collective responsibility of all agencies to prevent cybercrime.

Addressing the national conference on 'Tackling Cyber-Enabled Frauds and Dismantling the Ecosystem', he said earlier those who committed cyber crimes at the individual level are now doing it in an institutional manner and criminals are constantly changing the way they work by resorting to technology.

"Cyber security is no longer limited to economic security but now it has become an integral part of national security. It is, therefore, the collective responsibility of all of us to firmly secure the dimensions of economic, social, administrative and national security and to take forward this digital revolution," he said.

"It is the collective responsibility of the representatives of the agencies and departments engaged in preventing cyber crime to understand their challenges in depth and resolve to reduce their leakages at every possible level," he said adding that "concerted and coordinated" efforts have to be made in this direction so that the fight against cybercrime can be more effective.

He said the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has adopted a comprehensive and multi-pronged strategy against cyber crime and its key pillars include real-time reporting of cyber crimes, strong network of forensic laboratories, capacity building, research and development, dissemination of cyber awareness in the society and ensuring cyber hygiene in cyberspace.

"Now our goal is that all the concerned institutions including CBI, NIA, RBI, state police, other investigative agencies and government departments should come together to create a coordinated and highly secure system. It is only through this coordination that we will be able to effectively fight against cybercrimes and make the country's digital ecosystem safe and reliable," he said.

Shah said in terms of action against cybercriminals, criminal justice processes, and money recovery cases, the country have definitely made progress, but there is still a need to strengthen many dimensions more effectively.

He said from January 2020 to 30 November, 2025, the I4C reporting portal has been accessed over 230 million times and during this period, more than 82 lakh cybercrime-related complaints had been registered on the portal, of which 1.84 lakh were converted into FIRs

By 31 December, 2025, he said 62 banks and financial institutions had joined this mechanism and the MHA has set a clear target to onboard all banking and financial institutions, including cooperative banks, fully into the system before December this year.

He noted that through 3.61 lakh cyber fraud complaints, the government has successfully safeguarded Rs 8,189 crore, which is a significant achievement. According to estimates, he said the total amount of fraud was around Rs 20,000 crore, out of which the authorities have frozen or returned Rs 8,189 crore to the victims.

By December 2025, he added, the MHA had cancelled more than 12 lakh suspicious SIM cards and blocked the IMEI numbers of over three lakh mobile devices.