NEW DELHI: India and the United States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to bolster cooperation in investigating cyber crimes. This agreement is expected to facilitate greater collaboration and knowledge sharing between agencies from both countries, focusing on enhancing their ability to tackle cybercrime effectively. The MoU was signed by India's ambassador to the US, Vinay Kwatra, and Kristie Canegallo, the acting deputy secretary of US Homeland Security Investigations.
“The MoU allows the respective agencies of the two countries to step up the level of cooperation and training with respect to the use of cyber threat intelligence and digital forensics in criminal investigations,” a statement from External Affairs Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
On the Indian side, the implementation of the MoU will be overseen by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. On the US side, the Department of Homeland Security, along with its constituent agencies—the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center (C3)—will lead the efforts.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, cybercrimes have “intricate linkages with the common security challenges faced by India and the US,” including issues such as terrorism and violent extremism, terror financing, drug trafficking, organized crime, human trafficking, illegal migration, money laundering, and transportation security.
The MoU on cybercrime investigations will “enable further strengthening of India-US security cooperation, as part of our comprehensive and global strategic partnership”, the statement said.