Include cyber crimes in charter of committee on phone frauds: Report

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The government should include cyber crimes in the charter of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Phone Frauds (IMCPF18) as there is no significant difference between phones and computers with growing use of smartphones, a joint report by Ficci and EY said on Wednesday.

The report, "Confronting the New-Age Cybercriminal: Disrupting the web of crime", said: "An Inter-Ministerial Committee on Phone Frauds (IMCPF18) has been constituted in the Ministry of Home Affairs. This Committee needs to be mandated to include cyber crimes also as part of its charter because the distinction between phones and computers has virtually disappeared with the proliferation of smartphones."

The committee comprises representatives of the Home and Electronic and Information Technology Ministeries, Departments of Financial Services and Telecommunications, the Reserve Bank of India and law enforcement agencies.

The report also calls for strong bilateral agreements on cybercrime investigations, information sharing, intelligence, the applicability of international and territorial laws, capacity building, research and development among others.

It further advocates strengthening the national core networks and systems with establishment and enhancement of institutions or bodies such as Cybersecurity Incidence Response Team, Security Operations Centre.

Addressing the Ficci's conference on Homeland Security-2018 where its report was released, Minister of State for Electronics and IT S.S. Ahluwalia urged self-regulation and exercise of utmost care in uploading and downloading information from the internet as any indiscretion would lead to involuntarily aiding the cyber criminals in their malicious intent.

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