Global Unity Needed To Combat Cyber Threats

India is at the forefront of a digital revolution, marked by its significant advancements in public infrastructure like UPI and DBT. However, these accomplishments are met with escalating cyber threats, ranging from ransomware to deepfakes. India's approach—rooted in technological innovation, legislative frameworks like the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, and an emphasis on public awareness—positions it to combat these threats effectively

Achieving a secure cyber environment is now a national priority of India for serving the interests of governance, development and public welfare. There is a profound digital revolution in India -- the unique Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) being a standing testimony to it. Unsurprisingly, however, the challenges of dealing with the threats to cyber security are also multiplying in terms of ransomware, hacking, online scams, phishing, deepfakes and identity thefts.

The answer lies in the powerful combination of technological innovation for countering these threats, robust legislation like the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023 and an intense educational drive to make people aware of the importance of one's contribution to data safety. India has done well to call for unified cyber security standards at the global level and international cooperation for effectively combating cyber security threats.

India also took the initiative of convening the first-ever G20 Conference on cyber security in July 2023 whose theme was 'Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs, AI and Metaverse'.

NFTs are blockchain-based tokens -- each representing a unique asset that is cryptographically verified with an irrevocable digital certificate of ownership.

India's success story on digitisation is reflected in the fact that more than 13 billion Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions occurred in April 2024 alone with a cumulative value of $230 billion and that Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) saved the government more than $41 billion by eliminating leakages and ensuring that there was a direct transfer of money into citizen's bank accounts.

Threats to cyber security from anti-social and terrorist elements cannot be adequately handled unless all nations come together and share innovations in technology. Metaverse has opened up opportunities for criminals to commit new types of crimes. There is a need for law enforcement agencies to assess the challenge by enlisting various potential threats.

Since the cyber domain is governed by the input-output principle, analysis of data always proved to be of great importance. It is quite rewarding for instance, to assess the modus operandi of major cyber attacks for anticipating the next moves of the concerned criminals. Discussions on cyber security issues at the G20 level have fostered the development of an intelligence and information-sharing network and boosted global cooperation.

Capacity building for law enforcement agencies is an immediate task. At the same time, people must take to cyber hygiene and develop cyber awareness. In India, nearly 90,000 police officers have enrolled in the Massive Open Online Course platform and more than 57,000 certificates have already been issued.

On the recommendations of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) established in 2020, 709 apps have been banned so far for national security reasons. This kind of proactive approach befits a rising world power like India. Cybercriminals have an uncanny sense of those facets of the socio-economic conditions that could be exploited for cyber fraud.

National Cybercrime Reporter Portal (NCRP) created to serve as a platform for citizens to make swift reporting on cyber crimes, has revealed a massive surge in complaints involving intimidation, blackmail, extortion and even 'digital arrests' by cyber criminals who posed as police officers. A potential victim is contacted by the fraudster posing as a person in authority and claiming that he or she was involved in illegal activity such as receiving an illicit packet of contraband or that a close relative of the victim was mixed up in a crime or an accident for which a huge sum of money would have to be paid for reaching a compromise.

Sometimes the victim is subjected to 'digital arrest' by being forced to remain on video until the demand is met. The fraudster often used a studio designed like a police station or a government office to lend authenticity to the operation. Most people are scared of authority because of the way the police work here and the lack of the spirit of public service that generally prevailed in the functioning of the administration in the country. A redeeming feature is that I4C has blocked more than 1000 Skype IDs involved in suspicious activities.

It has to be mentioned that cyber fraud in the name of job offers has become an alarming issue as criminals make use of the difficult economic situation facing the people. The fraudster got the victim to click on a link that allowed WhatsApp chat through the course of which information of interest would be elicited.

Also through the link malware could be injected into the victim's mobile phone. Even Google search is used by cybercriminals to get the victim to reach a mobile number and fall into a fraudulent trap. The evolution of technology has created newer cyber issues, particularly with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and deepfakes.

Deepfakes involve imitation of a user's identity -- criminals could even use advanced biometric information to steal identities. Terrorists can use Metaverse for propaganda, recruitment and training. Cyberspace is also used for disinformation campaigns.

The cyber medium does not draw a line between the local and the global and that is why there has to be a universal approach to cyber security. A good beginning was made in detecting cyber security violations in the era of heightened cyber attacks, when the Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Cyber Security Operations Centre at the Headquarters of Assam Rifles at Shillong in January this year.

It provides for real-time network monitoring within the Assam Rifles Wide Area Network as a safeguard against cyber security violations. India's development would be extremely difficult to ensure without cyber security, in today's times. The ultimate mission should be to make the Internet secure for every citizen -- not merely for business organisations and strategic establishments.

Unified cyber security standards and global collaboration are necessary for combating cyber threats. Like in all segments of security, threats to cyber security should be 'prevented' as far as possible because 'investigations' into cyber crimes are not quick enough to create deterrence.

The highly evolving digital era is witnessing a sharp increase in the threats to critical infrastructure, national security and individual privacy. India believes that the 'whole of the government' approach combined with the role of the citizens at large, can prove transformational in safeguarding the national economic strength and strategic interests.

NCRP has provided the facility to the public to check the authenticity of websites under the 'suspect data' category. Over the last year, 310 phishing entities have been made non-functional.

A toll-free helpline number '1930' has been provided to assist in the filing of cyber complaints. Some 33 lakh cyber complaints have been filed so far, of which 75,000 were registered as FIRs.

There has to be a citizen's movement of awareness about what not to do while using cyberspace. There is little doubt that cyber security has become a weapon of war and securing the cyber space is today the chief determinant of national security.

(The writer is a former Director of the Intelligence Bureau. Views are personal)