Northeast's first cyber-security campaign launched in Guwahati

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: After the rapid increase in cybercrimes in India, CyberPeace Foundation and Truecaller launched a nationwide campaign of cyber security - True-Cyber-Safe - for the first time in Assam on May 6 at Royal Global University, Guwahati.

This campaign is the first of its kind in the Northeast.

Recently, a series of cyber-hacking incidents took place where a few government Twitter Accounts, including the Meteorological Department of India, UGC India and the Chief Minister's Office of UP were hacked. Regarding cyber security, this TrueCyberSafe training program was launched by the CyberPeace Foundation and Truecaller in collaboration with Assam Police, from Guwahati, Assam.

To create awareness and train people to tackle Cyber frauds, the programme was organized. The programme was graced by Harmeet Singh, the Commissioner of Police, Guwahati; Anurag Goel, Principal Secretary, IT Department.

India has seen a five-fold jump in cyber fraud cases from 2018 to 2021. The programme aims to create awareness among the people regarding cyber fraud. The campaign mainly focused on creating awareness among the students regarding cybercrimes and digital safety.

The Commissioner of Police, Guwahati, delivered the keynote regarding the three safety rules -- recognize, respond and report. Singh explained to the students how to recognise the frauds by showing different types of examples of cybercrimes, how to respond to them and how to take action against them. Singh further talked about 'sharenting' (exposing children in the social media) and its awareness. The Police Commissioner asked everyone to be aware of cyber safety and to create awareness. He asked everyone to go out and speak about it among one's own social circle.

"We have started this cyber security programme from Assam. This is a matter of happiness and honour for us. We are honoured and privileged that we have started such a programme. Everyone should speak about it and create awareness about it," said Harmeet Singh.

"We are also launching a cyber helpline link within two days where anybody can join, be helped and help other people to be cyber safe," Singh added.

Anurag Goel spoke about how to tackle through better awareness and building the capacity of people to recognize and report cybercrime. Goel also talked about the role played by the Truecaller app in raising awareness.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of cyberspace, which is evidenced by the rise in cyberattacks in the past few years…The Government of Assam has taken several measures in the past, including a month-long cyber awareness drive and issuing a one-step guidebook on how to stay safe online".

Further, Pragya Misra Mehrishi, the Director of Public Affairs, Truecaller told that they are conducting their first set of training in Assam as a part of their National campaign called TrueCyberSafe.

Talking about the "CyberPeace- The Need of the hour" Major Vineet Kumar has also spoken about CyberAware and CyberAlert.

"We get almost 10-11 cases related to Cyber frauds per day. To address this issue, we along with Truecaller believe that this programme on understanding online threats and safety is the future of Internet use," Kumar said.

The launch was followed by the technical session conducted by Head Capacity Building, CyberPeace Foundation, and Dr Rakshit Tandon under the TruecyberFSafe Campaign. The session also spoke about various reporting mechanisms, including the Government reporting portal www.cybercrime.gov.in, Helpline number 1930 and CyberPeace WhatsApp helpline number + 9570000066.

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