Rise in Cybercrimes in India

Syllabus: GS3/Cybersecurity

Context

• As per the NCRB Crime in India 2024 Report, the overall crime rate in India declined by 6% in 2024 compared with 2023 but there was an increase of over 17% in cybercrime cases.

About Cybercrime

• Cybercrime refers to criminal activities that involve the use of computers, networks, and digital technologies. 
  • It encompasses a wide range of illicit activities conducted in the virtual space, often with the intent to compromise, damage, or gain unauthorized access to computer systems, networks, and data. 
  • Cybercriminals employ various techniques and tools to exploit vulnerabilities in networks, and they may target individuals, organizations, or even governments.
• Nature of Cybercrimes: 
  • Frequently receiving calls about deliveries they never ordered, high-return investment scam calls, bank officials asking for personal account details, and calls about their phones being linked to illegal activities or an unknown number claiming to be their friend urgently in need of money.
  • Calls from police or someone in authority claiming that their friend or relative is in danger or has committed some type of crime.
• Modus Operandi: 
  • Instead of relying solely on technical expertise, fraudsters target social relationships and institutional credibility. 
  • Investment scams appeal to the aspiration of getting rich quickly, delivery scams draw on trust in e-commerce, bank impersonation uses institutional credibility, and fake police calls exploit fear of authority.

Impact of Cyber Crimes

• National Security Threats: Cyber crimes pose a threat to national security when state-sponsored actors or criminal organizations target critical infrastructure, government institutions, or military systems. 
• Data Breaches: Data breaches lead to the exposure of personal information, trade secrets, intellectual property, and other confidential data, causing severe damage to the affected entities.
• Financial Losses: Cyber fraud, ransomware, phishing and online scams can cause substantial financial losses to individuals, banks, businesses and governments.
• Disruption of Services: Cyber attacks disrupt essential services such as power grids, communication networks, and transportation systems. 
• Erosion of Trust: Repeated cyber fraud and data breaches reduce public confidence in digital payments, e-governance, online banking and other digital services.

Main Challenges in Tackling the Scams

• High-Tech Tools: Use of deepfakes, number spoofing, encrypted messaging, and dark web data leaks makes attribution difficult.
• Psychological Pressure: Fraudsters exploit fear, urgency, and authority figures, especially targeting senior citizens.
• Instant Payment Rails: Rapid money transfers via UPI and online banking allow scammers to siphon funds before accounts can be frozen.
• Enforcement & Reporting Barriers: Delayed victim reporting due to fear or embarrassment, combined with cross-border legal challenges.

Initiatives by Government of India to Prevent Cybercrimes

• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In): CERT-In is the national nodal agency for responding to cybersecurity incidents.
  • It provides proactive and reactive cybersecurity support and plays a crucial role in ensuring the security and resilience of the country’s cyber infrastructure.
• National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC): NCIIPC is responsible for protecting critical information infrastructure from cyber threats.
  • It identifies and designates critical sectors and advises organizations in these sectors on enhancing their cybersecurity measures.
• Cyber Crime Prevention against Women & Children (CCPWC) scheme: The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance to all the States & UTs under the scheme to support their efforts for setting up of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories, training, and hiring of junior cyber consultants. 
• Public Awareness: Regular alerts distributed through SMS, railway/airport displays, and the CyberDost initiative.
• Anti-Spoofing Systems: DoT measures to identify and block incoming international calls disguised as domestic Indian numbers.
• Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C): It provides a framework and ecosystem for Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.
  • ‘Joint Cyber Coordination Teams’ have been constituted for seven regions at Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam and Guwahati under the I4C.
• National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal: It is launched to enable the public to report incidents pertaining to all types of cyber crimes.
  • A toll-free number 1930 has been operationalized to get assistance in lodging online cyber complaints. 
  • The Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System module has also been launched for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters.
• Cyber Swachhta Kendra (Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre): This initiative is aimed at creating awareness about botnet and malware infections and providing tools for detection and cleaning.
  • It also provides cyber security tips and best practices for citizens and organisations

Source: TH