BENGALURU: Karnataka has once again taken the lead in setting up the first Cyber Command Centre in the country.
It becomes the first state to set up a comprehensive cyber command that will look into cyber security, cybercrime, ransomware, stalking, online crimes against women and children, sextortion, cyber frauds, including digital arrest, deepfakes, identity thefts, hacking, data breaches, outreach, disinformation, etc.
The Cyber Command will be headed by an IPS officer of the rank of Director General of Police. The government has re-designated a senior IPS officer of 1994 batch - DGP, Internal Security Division (ISD), Police Computer Wing (PCW) and Cyber Crime & Narcotics (C&N), Pronab Mohanty as DG, Cyber Command.
Cyber command will include 43 CEN police stations
Earlier, C&N was part of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID). Karnataka was the first state to set up India’s first cybercrime police station in 2001, It was started in CID, Bengaluru, to tackle the growing number of cybercrimes.
Cyber Crime Police Station, Bengaluru, came into existence in March 2017.Establishing a Cyber Command in the state has been in the pipeline for some time with Home Minister G Parameshwara announcing last year the government’s intention to go ahead with a unified cyber security centre.
The Cyber Command has been set up using the infrastructure and manpower available and will include the existing 43 CEN (Cyber, Economic & Narcotics) police stations functioning across the state.
These will now be re-designated as cyber crime police stations. In addition, the cyber crime police stations currently operating under the DGP, CID with state-level jurisdiction, as well as those functioning under the Bengaluru City Police Commissionerate will also be brought under the ambit of the Cyber Command Unit, thereby bringing 45 police stations under this specialised unit. Cybercrime cases currently account for approximately 20% of the total criminal cases registered in metropolitan cities.
Around 52,000 cybercrime cases have been reported in Karnataka in the last four years. Notably, the state ranks among the highest in South India in terms of the number of cybercrime cases registered.
The Cyber Command Centre with the headquarters in the CID building on Palace Road will ensure effective monitoring, investigation, and prevention of cybercrimes. The Cyber Crime police station presently functioning under the DGP, CID, as well as the Cyber Crime police stations operating under the Bengaluru City Police Commissionerate, will be brought under the administrative control of the DGP/ADGP, Cyber Crimes Prevention Unit, with full sanctioning powers.