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Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C)

Kumari Sonali

Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C):

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) recently warned of a rise in financial fraud involving deceptive advertisements that use manipulated videos of the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, and Chief Ministers to promote fake government welfare schemes.

  • I4C has been established under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to act as a nodal point at the National level in the fight against cybercrime.
  • The I4C was dedicated to the nation on 10th January 2020.
  • It is designed to provide a framework and ecosystem for law enforcement agencies (LEAs) to deal with cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.
  • I4C brings together academia, industry, public, and government in the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of cybercrimes.
  • Headquarters: New Delhi
  • The I4C is a Ministry of Home Affairs body focused on cybercrime against citizens and the policing response, including the 1930 helpline and the cybercrime reporting portal.
  • CERT-In, under the Ministry of Electronics and IT and anchored in Section 70B of the IT Act, 2000, handles cybersecurity incident response and network protection rather than crime against persons.
  • Objectives:
    • To act as a nodal point to curb cybercrime in the country.
    • To strengthen the fight against cybercrime committed against women and children.
    • Facilitate easy filing of cybercrime-related complaints and identifying cybercrime trends and patterns.
    • To act as an early warning system for LEAs for proactive cybercrime prevention and detection.
    • Awareness creation among the public about preventing cybercrime.
    • Assist states/UTs in the capacity building of Police Officers, Public Prosecutors and Judicial Officers in the area of cyber forensics, investigation, cyber hygiene, cyber-criminology, etc.
    • Identify the research problems and needs of LEAs and take up R&D activities in developing new technologies and forensic tools in collaboration with academia/research institutes within India and abroad.
    • Suggest amendments, if required, in cyber laws to keep pace with fast-changing technologies and international cooperation.
    • To coordinate all activities related to the implementation of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLAT) with other countries related to cybercrimes in consultation with the concerned nodal authority in MHA.
  • Components:
    • National Cybercrime Threat Analytics Unit (TAU)
    • National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP)
    • National Cybercrime Training Centre (NCTC)
    • National Cybercrime Research and Innovation Centre
    • Platform for Joint Cyber Crime Coordination Team
    • Cybercrime Ecosystem Management Unit
    • National Cybercrime Forensic Laboratory (Investigation) Ecosystem
  • Major Initiatives:
    • Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System (CFCFRMS): For immediate reporting of financial cyber frauds and preventing the siphoning of funds by cyber criminals on a near-real-time basis.
    • National Toll-Free Helpline number ‘1930’ has been operationalized to provide citizen assistance in lodging online cyber complaints.
    • The social media handle “CyberDost”, which provides cyber safety tips at regular intervals.
    • I4C has envisaged the Cyber Crime Volunteers Program to bring together citizens with a passion to serve the nation on a single platform and contribute to the fight against cybercrime in the country.
    • Pratibimb geospatial crime mapping platform maps locations of criminals and crime infrastructure on a map to give visibility to jurisdictional officers.
  • Samanvaya Portal:
    • It is a web-based Joint Cybercrime Investigation Facilitation System.
    • The platform works as a centralized one-stop system for cybercrime data sharing, crime mapping, data analytics, and coordination among police and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) across States and Union Territories.