Current State of Cybercrime Report 2019

April 30, 2019

According to whitepaper ‘Current State of Cybercrime-2019’, released by RSA Security (is an American computer and network security company of parent organization Dell Technologies), social media fraud has increased by 43% in 2018. It says the trend will continue in 2019 because of ease of using, absence of fees and multiple other benefits of these platforms.
Key Findings

With Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter and other legitimate messaging platforms emerging as new ground for criminal deception, cybercriminals are increasingly relying on them to communicate with each other, sell stolen identities, credit card numbers and other ill-gotten gains.
Artifice (fraud) from mobile apps has increased by 680% between 2015 and 2018, with frauds originating in mobile channels growing by 70% in 2018.
It cautioned against the increasing rise of use of rogue mobile applications to defraud consumers.
It highlighted that fraudsters are also undergoing their own form of digital transformation to make cybercrime activity more efficient

Steps taken by Government

Government has undertaken number of legislative, technical and institutional measures for addressing cyber security issues and strengthening cyber security system in country.

National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) is an operational cyber security and e-surveillance agency in India which is intended to screen communication metadata and co-ordinate intelligence gathering activities of other agencies. It generates situational awareness about potential and existing cyber security threats and enables timely sharing of information for proactive, preventive and protective actions by individual entities.
National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) under National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) coordinates with different agencies at the national level for cyber security matters.
Enacted Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, to provide legal recognition for electronic communication, electronic commerce and cyber-crimes etc. IT Act has acted as deterrent provisions to deal with cyber threats and cyber-attacks.
Established National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) for protection of critical information infrastructure in the country.
It formulated National Cyber Security policy (2013) framework to ensure a secure and resilient cyberspace for citizens, businesses and government.
Set up Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and countermeasures on regular basis.
Launched Cyber Swachhta Kendra (which are Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre) for detection of malicious programs and provide free tools for their removal.
Set up The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), to issues alerts and advisories regarding latest cyber threats and countermeasures on regular basis. It conducts regular training programmes for network and system administrators and governments Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and critical sector organisations regarding securing the IT infrastructure and mitigating cyber attacks.
(CERT-In) has also entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its overseas counterpart agencies/Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) for information exchange and collaboration for cyber security incident response.
Under Cyber Crime Prevention for Women and Children (CCPWC) Scheme, GoI released grants to States/UTs to set up a Cyber Forensic cum Training Laboratory and to organize capacity building programme on cyber awareness and cyber crime investigation.
A Division has been established under Ministry of Home Affairs to deal with Cyber and Information Security.