New Delhi

India will have as many as 5,000 cyber commandos in the next five years, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday (Sep 10). These commandos will be a group of highly-trained police officers who will instantly respond to cyber attacks in the country and carry out preventive measures.

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Shah announced at the first foundation day of the I4C- Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre. 

"We will have 5,000 cyber commandos in five years. These commandos will respond to cyber threats swiftly," he said.

The home minister termed cyber security as part of national security as a “country’s growth is not possible without ensuring cyber security,” said Shah.

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Shah also inaugurated a ‘suspect registry’- a database with details of criminals involved in cyber and online financial frauds that will be accessible by the states, union territories, central investigation and intelligence agencies. The registry has been 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.

Watch | Study: Financial fraud top cybercrime in India

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“If the states/union territories have data in silos, then it won’t help us in the fight against cyber criminals who have no boundaries. The time has come that a common registry for suspects is there,” Shah said. He further mentioned that all stakeholders will have to come together to deal with the menace.

Shah also dedicated a Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) to the country, at the event.

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The CFMC has been established at I4C with representatives of major banks, financial intermediaries, payment aggregators, telecom service providers, IT intermediaries and states/UTs law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

I4C was established in October 2018, under the central sector scheme within the Cyber and Information Security Division (CIS Division) of the MHA. Its primary objective is to establish a national-level coordination centre for addressing all issues related to cybercrime across the country.

Cyber crimes in India

Several Indians fall prey to cyber fraud every year. Between Jan and April 2024, Indians suffered losses exceeding Rs 1,750 crore due to cybercriminal activities. This was reported through over 740,000 complaints lodged on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, which is managed by the MHA. 

The I4C stated that in May 2024 an average of 7,000 cybercrime complaints were recorded daily, marking a significant surge of 113.7 per cent compared to the period between 2021 and 2023, according to a report in the Economic Times.

(With inputs from agencies)