Assam: 2-day workshop on Cyber Crime begins in Guwahati

Twenty four senior police officers who are dealing with cyber crime investigation from 8(eight) North-Eastern States namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura are participating in the Workshop along with 3 senior officers from Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi. 

The Regional Cyber Co-ordination Centre set up for the North-East Region at Guwahati, Assam is conducting this workshop for the first time and was inaugurated by Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta, DGP Assam.  

In his inaugural address DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta had stressed about the importance of cyber policing and securing the cyber space in the country. 

He congratulated the CID, Assam for organizing this Workshop under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi. 

He stressed the need for proper co-ordination and communication amongst the law enforcement agencies since cyber crime knows no boundaries and has no jurisdiction. 

The Assam DGP also gave the cyber crime statistics of the country as well as of Assam and highlighted the importance that is being given by the Assam Police to train and support the investigating officers with advanced hardware and software tools.

This workshop discussed about the best practices adopted by NE states in cyber crime investigations, gathering & preserving of digital evidence.

An interaction session with officers of RBI, DoT, Telecom Service Providers, Payment Gateways was also incorporated in the Workshop to have proper co-ordination between law enforcement agencies and the regulatory bodies for effective cyber crime investigation.

During this workshop, an interaction with Krishna Shastry, Consultant Cyber Security on the latest trends in cyber crime and best practices in the investigation was organised. 

There is a session on ‘Online Loan Frauds” by A.Y.V. Krishna, Addl. DGP, CID, Assam and a session on functioning of Assam Cyberdome project. 

An interaction session is also being conducted with the stakeholders like Academia, Students, Social, Women & Child Welfare departments regarding cyber hygiene and awareness to prevent cyber victimization.

The officers from Ministry of Home Affairs interacted with the participants on the platforms and tools available in Indian Cyber Crime Co-ordination Centre.  Delivering the welcome address, A.Y.V. Krishna, Addl. DGP, CID explained about the importance of organizing this workshop and also briefed the participants about the steps undertaken by Assam Police in setting up the Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting & Management System which started functioning since last 2(two) months during which Assam Police was able to freeze Rs. 50 lakhs belonging to various victims. 

The National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal has also sent around 3,800 complaints on cyber crime pertaining to Assam which are being looked into by various police stations in the State of Assam.  Further, Assam Police had procured 245 numbers of Cyber Forensic First Responder Kits, which were distributed to various police stations in the state after proper training.
 
(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)