Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children

The Scheme for Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children (CCWC) has been formulated by the Ministry of Home Affairs to have an effective mechanism to handle cybercrimes against women and children in the country.

Components of the CCPWC Scheme

1. Online Cybercrime reporting Unit
2. Forensic Unit
3. Capacity Building Unit
4. Research & development Unit
5. Awareness Creation Unit

Online Cybercrime reporting Unit

‘Police’ and ‘Public’ are State subject as per the Constitution of India and States are primarily responsible for prevention, detection and investigation of crime through their law enforcement machinery. The Law Enforcement Agencies take legal action as per the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act, 2000 against the cyber fraud offenders.

The Online Cybercrime Reporting Portal is a central citizen portal through which an online cyber-crime complaint can be made by the victims of cyber-crime. It was launched on 20^th September 2018 to report complaints pertaining to Child Pornography (CP)/Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) or sexually explicit content.

It will provide a central repository for all such crimes, which will be used for publishing an annual analytical report regarding cyber-crimes, their trends and remedial measures etc. Also, this unit will provide a central repository for reference to law enforcement and regulatory agencies at the national, state and local level for cyber-crime related information. This unit will be responsible for development of an online cyber-crime reporting platform, publishing periodic analytical reports covering trends of cyber-crime, defining process flows for handling online complaints field by citizens and also responsible for assigning such complaints to the appropriate law enforcement agencies based on jurisdiction in the states/ UTs or to any central agency having jurisdiction for criminal investigation.

This unit will work closely with forensic unit for all digital investigations at centre as well as at designated state forensic laboratories.

Forensic Unit

Proper collection and preserving of evidence related to cyber-crime and its analysis in line with the provisions of the IT Act and evidence Act is of utmost importance. A national cyber forensic laboratory will operate 24*7*365 basis. It would have all the latest forensic tool setup, which would be accessible to all central /state/ UTs as well as central/ State forensic laboratories as and when needed. This unit will have a team of cyber security professionals to carry out vivid types of electronics forensic analysis and assist the law enforcement agencies in electronic forensic analysis across the country.

This laboratory would carry all deep and advanced level forensic analysis.

Capacity Building Unit

This unit will support capacity building of Central and State Police Forces, Prosecutors, Judicial officers and all other concerned stakeholder for all required capabilities like detection, investigations, forensic etc.

This unit will also assist the state/ UTs officials in taking up long term courses to enhance the expertise in this area.

Research and development Unit

In order to develop effective tools to detect obscene and objectionable content in the cyber space, a continuous refining is needed. Hence, there is need to take up research and development activities in partnership with research and academic institutions of national importance.

These initiatives will help in improving the technology readiness and would be prepared to face any type of cyber-crimes. As part of research and development activities multiple Centres of Excellence (COE) will be developed in the country.

Awareness Creation Unit

There is need for a well-defined citizen awareness program by the government of India aimed at delivering cyber-crime dos and don’ts as a proactive mitigation initiative.

Awareness about cybercrime and cyber hygiene will be introduced in schools in the early stages of education as a component of school curriculum.

These awareness communications will be delivered via a web portal and mobile apps. Through this medium individual will be informed about the various types of cyber-crimes and information on how to securely use technology to protect themselves.

Awareness campaigns like one day workshop, essay and elocution competition etc. will be conducted at schools, college level across the country and as a part of such programs brochures related to cyber etiquettes, do’s and don’ts and prizes would be distributed.

Source : Ministry of Home Affairs