Mumbai: To arrest the rise in cyber crime, the State government will be establishing a Centre of Excellence for Cyber Security at the World Trade Centre (WTC), Minister of State (Home) Ranjit Patil said on Wednesday.
He said work done at the centre will also help improve the conviction rate in cyber crime cases, and study communal propaganda on social media and WhatsApp. The government will also be able to delete objectionable posts on the social media on its own. Presently, the government has to request the Central government to delete objectionable posts.
To prepare the groundwork for this online security net, the government said it has already initiated the construction of the State Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to fight external cyber threats. The CERT is likely to cost ₹838 crore. He said a network using modern transmission systems and high-end routers has been laid.
Mr Patil said during the Question Hour debate in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, “We want to pro-actively analyse propaganda on social media and take initiatives to curb rumour-mongering in advance. Additionally, we will include modern technology in the existing infrastructure to curb cyber crimes in Mumbai.”
According to data provided by the government in the House, 4,035 cases were registered last year under the IT Act, 2000, read with the IPC. This is an almost two-fold increase over the 2,380 cases registered in 2016 and 2,195 in 2015. In 2017, the detection rate stood at 25.7%, lower than the 35.4% in 2015. The conviction rate in 2017 was 16.67%, while it was considerably higher in 2015 at 40.74%.
The question was raised by Opposition MLAs Satej Patil, Sharad Ranpise and Sanjay Dutt, who claimed cyber crimes are steadily increasing, especially in Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad. In the last five years, only 1% of accused have been punished, they said.
Mr. Patil said the government has implemented the Maharashtra Cyber Security Project, a flagship scheme under which 47 forensic labs have been opened in the State and 137 experts have been trained so far. “We are procuring special equipment to enhance these labs, and the project will be fully implemented in four years. An initial budget of ₹650 crore has been set aside for modernisation. We hope to increase this amount.”
