India’s Fight Against Cybercrime: Home Minister To Inaugurate ‘Cyber Commandos’ Program In New Delhi

The cyber commandos programme will be inaugurated coinciding with the first Foundation Day celebration of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. Shah will also launch several key initiatives for the prevention of cybercrime.

New Delhi:To make India free from cybercrime,Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate the ‘Cyber Commandos’ programme in New Delhi on Tuesday. Under this programme, a special wing of trained ‘Cyber Commandos’ in States and Union Territories (UTs) and Central Police Organisations (CPOs) will be established to counter threats to the cyber security landscape in the country.

Trained Cyber Commandos will assist the States, UTs and Central Agencies in securing the digital space. The Cyber Commandos programme will be inaugurated coinciding with the first Foundation Day celebrations of I4C. He will also launch key initiatives for the prevention of cybercrime.

A Home Ministry official said that Shah will dedicate the Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) to the nation. The CFMC has been established at the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (14C) in New Delhi with representatives of major banks, financial intermediaries, payment aggregators, telecom service providers, IT intermediaries and States as well as UTs Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs).

“They will work together for immediate action and seamless cooperation to tackle online financial crimes. CFMC will serve as an example of 'Cooperative Federalism' in law enforcement,” the official said.

Shah will also launch a web-based module called Samanvaya Platform (Joint Cybercrime Investigation Facilitation System) to act as One Stop Portal for data repositories of cybercrime, data sharing, crime mapping, data analytics, cooperation and coordination platform for Law Enforcement Agencies across the country.

The Home Minister will also inaugurate a suspect registry. As part of this initiative, a Suspect Registry of various identifiers is being created based on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), in collaboration with banks and financial intermediaries to strengthen the fraud risk management capabilities of the financial ecosystem.

The official said that these initiatives, under the guidance of Home Minister Amit Shah, will prove to be an important milestone in achieving Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a ‘Cyber Secure Bharat’.

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) was established on October 5, 2018, under the Central Sector Scheme within the Cyber and Information Security Division (CIS Division) of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Its primary objective was to establish a national-level coordination centre for addressing all issues related to cybercrime across the country.

I4C aims to enhance the capabilities of Law Enforcement Agencies and improve coordination among various stakeholders dealing with cybercrime. On January 10, 2020, the I4C headquarters in New Delhi was inaugurated and dedicated to the nation. To give a permanent institutional form and build upon the learning gained during the scheme phase, with effect from July 1, 2024, I4C has been designated as an attached office under the Ministry of Home Affairs.