Amit Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the National Conference on Cyber Security and National Security.
Amit Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the National Conference on Cyber Security and National Security.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that anti-India forces had formed “cyber armies” to launch cyber attacks against India, but the home ministry was ready to thwart any such attempt. The minister said data privacy and protection of critical infrastructure from cyber attacks were imminent challenges in the wake of the digital revolution in the country and it was heartening that 80 crore Indians had an online presence. The present population was estimated at 135 crores.
Mr Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the National Conference on Cyber Security and National Security. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs as part of efforts to create public awareness for prevention of cyber crimes in the country.
The home minister said the technology has reached the lowest level in the country and if measures are not taken to secure the cyber sector, it could become a challenge “for all of us”.
He said that it was the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that every Indian should be empowered with internet and technology. “Today, 130 crore people are able to get direct benefit transfer. This was unimaginable before 2014 as 60 crore people did not have bank accounts due to corruption and other reasons,” Mr Shah said. In the last few days, cyber awareness campaigns were conducted in different parts of the country including Jharkhand. “You must know about these children of Jharkhand who have committed cyber fraud. I am happy that such a campaign has been launched in the state also.
malware attack
Mr Shah said crimes such as malware attacks, phishing, attacks on critical infrastructure, child pornography were not new and were only going to increase in the future. The number of cyber crimes registered in 2012 was 3,377 and increased to over 50,000 in 2020 and the crime rate was projected to increase by 231% by 2025.
Cybercrime.gov.in, a cybercrime portal launched three years ago, has received 11 lakh complaints so far, of which over two lakh are related to social media.
Mr Shah said the price of internet data has come down by 96% in the last seven years and the higher the rate falls, the more users will connect to the internet.
He said that till now $1 trillion worth of transactions were done through BHIM-UPI and the interface was gaining global reach as countries like Singapore, UAE, Bhutan, Nepal and France have now accepted payments through it.
Ashutosh Agnihotri, Joint Secretary, Cyber and Information Security, Ministry of Home Affairs, said that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C) has seven components, including a 24/7 cyber crime reporting portal and a platform for joint cyber crime investigation.