Country’s progress impossible without cybersecurity: Amit Shah

New Delhi, Sep 10: The country’s progress is not possible without ensuring cybersecurity, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday, terming cybersecurity an integral part of national security.
He also said that cybercrime has no boundary, and hence it is imperative that all stakeholders come together to deal with the menace.
“Cybersecurity is an integral part of national security. We must ensure cybersecurity as without cybersecurity, the country’s progress is not possible,” he said addressing the foundation day celebrations of the I4C or Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre here.
In his address, Amit Shah underlined that I4C was established in 2015 under the ‘Safe Cyber Space’ campaign on the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, since then it is continuously moving towards becoming a strong pillar of a cyber secured India. He added that in the 9-year journey from 2015 to 2024, this idea turned into an initiative and then into an institution and now it is moving towards becoming a huge pillar of a cyber secured India.
Union Home Minister said that development of any country is impossible without cyber security. He said that technology proves to be a blessing for human life and today technology is being used extensively in all new initiatives. He said that the increasing use of technology is also creating many threats and that is why cyber security is no longer limited to the digital world but has also become an important aspect of national security. Shah said that platforms like I4C can make a huge contribution in dealing with such threats. He called upon I4C to continue awareness, coordination and joint efforts with the concerned stakeholders. The Home Minister said that no single institution can keep cyber space secured single-handedly. This is possible only when many stakeholders come on the same platform and move forward on the same method and path.
Amit Shah said that four major cyber platforms of I4C have also been launched here today. He said that Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC) was a vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has been launched today. He said that along with this, Cyber Commando, Samanvay platform and Suspect Registry have also been inaugurated today.
Union Home Minister said that in a vast country like India, having a separate Cyber Suspect Registry for each state would not serve any purpose because states have their own boundaries but cyber criminals have no boundaries. He said that it was the need of the hour to create a Suspect Registry at the national level and connect states with it to create a common platform to fight cyber crime. Shah added that this initiative will help us a lot in preventing cyber crimes in the coming days.
Amit Shah said that from today onwards, I4C is also starting a public awareness campaign. He said that efforts will be made to speed up this campaign through more than 72 TV channels, 190 Radio FM channels, cinema halls and many other platforms in the country. He said that this campaign cannot be successful unless the victim knows how to avoid cyber crime. Shah said that creating awareness about the cyber crime helpline 1930 and other platforms of I4C will increase its utility and help us prevent cyber crimes. The Home Minister requested all the state governments to join this campaign and spread awareness in villages and cities.
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that CFMC has also been inaugurated with the idea of bringing banks, financial institutions, telecom companies, Internet Service Providers and police on a single platform and this will become a major platform for prevention of cyber crime in the coming days. He said that CFMC should work to identify the modus operandi (MO) of cyber criminals using different data and prevent it. Shah said that under the Cyber Commando programme, a target has been set to prepare about 5 thousand cyber commandos in 5 years.
Amit Shah said that ‘duty to share’ instead of ‘need to know’ is the need of the hour and for this nothing can be more effective than the Samanvay platform. He added that the Samanvay platform has been taken forward with a data-driven approach and this is the first attempt in the country to create a shared data repository. The Home Minister said that the four initiatives launched today have been taken together by I4C and the police across the country, they will make a huge contribution in making the fight against cyber crime more robust, effective and successful.
Union Home Minister said that the number of internet users in the country was 25 crores on 31 March 2014, which is 95 crores on 31 March 2024. He said that due to the increase in downloading speed and reduction in cost, data consumption has also increased a lot. He said that earlier the average usage was 0.26 GB which has increased by almost 78 times to 20.27 GB today. Shah added that due to the Digital India initiative, many facilities have become online in the country. He said that 35 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 36 crore Rupay debit cards, transactions worth Rs 20 lakh 64000 crore have been done digitally in 2024. He said that 46% of the world’s digital transaction volume is taking place in India today. Home Minister added that when digital accounts and digital transactions increase, the need for protection from digital fraud also increases a lot.
Amit Shah said that in 2014, only 600 panchayats of the country were connected to the internet, whereas 2,13,000 panchayats are connected with the internet today. He said that with the increase in digital transactions and use of digital data, the responsibility of securing it from cyber fraud has also increased. He said that we are facing many challenges like sale of important personal data by cyber criminals, online harassment, women and child abuse, fake news and tool kits, misinformation campaigns and, even today, we need to do a lot to deal with them.
Union Home Minister said that in three new criminal laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) – all legal arrangements have been made to make our country cyber secured. He said that through many technology driven initiatives, they have been given a legal form. He said that many efforts have been made to ensure that investigation is based on scientific methods and to improve the quality of probe.
Amit Shah said that I4C has done a great job in its journey of 9 years and in the short span of one year after becoming an official part of the Ministry of Home Affairs. He said that the biggest achievement of I4C is the 1930 national helpline number and it is the responsibility of all state governments and stakeholders to popularise it. Home Minister suggested organising an awareness fortnight to popularise the 1930 helpline. He said that all state governments and the Ministry of Home Affairs should take the initiative and organise an awareness fortnight after six months. Shri Shah said that if a campaign to popularise 1930 is run simultaneously on all platforms, then definitely the victims of fraud will feel safe, it will be stopped immediately and a fear will also be created in the minds of fraudsters.
Amit Shah said that so far I4C has issued more than 600 advisories, blocked a wide range of websites, social media pages, mobile apps and accounts operated by cyber criminals. He said that a National Cyber Forensic Laboratory has also been set up in Delhi under I4C. Shah said that so far more than 1100 officers have been trained in cyber forensics and this is our very important and ambitious program to take this campaign down to the districts and tehsils.
Union Home Minister said that keeping in mind the complaints of cyber crime, 7 Joint Cyber Coordination Teams have been formed at Mewat, Jamtara, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam and Guwahati and they have yielded very good results. He said that I4C has also launched an effective awareness campaign on various social media handles under Cyber Dost. Shah said that with all these efforts we have definitely reached a point but our goals are still far away. He said that to achieve the goal, we will have to make a precise strategy and move forward together in the same direction.