Cybercrimes in India in pandemic gone up by 500 per cent: Defence Chief Bipin Rawat

New Delhi, Nov 12: Cybercrimes in the country have gone up by 500 per cent during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat at the annual Hacking and Cyber Security Briefing on Friday.

After inaugurating the virtual event, which is held from November 10-13, Rawat spoke about the threats arising from technology. He said, "Cybercrimes in India in the pandemic have gone up by 500%. We need to consider new threats like drones, ransomware, internet of things devices, and the role of nation-states.

The Chief of Defence MoD said that the IT Act 2000 needs to be amended further. "With new techs like virtual currencies and blockchains, the IT Act 2000 needs to be amended further. Data Protection Bill 2019 is yet to reach finality," he added.

The conference is being organised by Kerala Police in association with two non-profit organisations, Society for the Policing of Cyberspace (POLCYB) and Information Security Research Association (ISRA) with an aim to discuss online scams and defenses during the lockdown period, a press statement said.

"The conference is being held in such a way that online security is beneficial even to children in the state where many crimes are taking place with the shift to online classes," the statement added.

As the last year's conference had the participation of over 6,000 people from around the world, the event is being held online so that people from other countries too can attend the event.

The conference "aims to discuss at the international level the challenges facing the digital world during the COVID period and the solutions needed to overcome them", the statement said.

"It also provides an information sharing platform on cyber security issues, enhancement of law enforcement agencies/corporates/researchers/academia's effectiveness and efficiency through the improvement of the technical and administrative capabilities in incident handling and a channel to discuss strategic directions and future challenges," it said.

The theme of this year's 'c0c0n' is - Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.