Crackdown on digital arrests: 1700 Skype IDs; 59000 WhatsApp accounts blocked

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) identified and blocked more than 1,700 Skype IDs and 59,000 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told Lok Sabha that till November 15, more than 6.69 lakh SIM cards and 1,32,000 IMEIs as reported by police authorities have also been blocked by the Central government.

Replying to a question on cyber frauds and crimes from K. Eswarasamy of DMK, MoS Rai said, “The Ministry has set up the I4C as an attached office to deal with all types of cyber crimes in the country, in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.”

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is also operating an automated cyberthreat exchange platform for collecting, analysing and sharing tailored alerts with organisations across sectors for proactive threat mitigation actions by them, he said.

To spread awareness of cybercrime, the Central Government has taken steps like dissemination of messages through SMS, I4C social media account on X (formerly Twitter) (@CyberDost), Facebook(CyberDostI4C), Instagram (cyberDostI4C), Telegram (cyberdosti4c), Radio campaign, engaged MyGov for publicity in multiple mediums, organising Cyber Safety and Security Awareness weeks in association with States/UTs, publishing of handbook for adolescents/students, digital displays on railway stations and airports, he said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has provided financial assistance of Rs 131.60 crore under the ‘Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCPWC)’ Scheme, to States/UTs for their capacity building such as setting up of cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories, hiring of junior cyber consultants and training of law enforcing agencies personnel, public prosecutors and judicial officers, he said.

The MoS said 891 Judicial Officers, 395 Public Prosecutors, 12 Forensics Experts and 2,180 law enforcers have been trained by I4C in matters of cybercrime prevention, awareness and investigation forensics.

The I4C has also imparted cyber hygiene training to 7,330 officials of various ministries/departments of the Central government.

(With inputs from IANS)