One year after one of the largest government data breaches, India finally has a national cyber forensic lab

• India has launched the National Cyber Forensic Lab and CyPAD (Cyber Prevention, Awareness and Detection Centre).
  
• The lab will be operated by Delhi Police. However, other police units can also access the NCF.
  
• The lab has been made well equipped with malware forensics, crypto currency forensics, network forensics and recovery tools.

Despite the Indian government’s efforts to fight cyber attacks, the rate of cyber crime in India has been growing. India saw one of the biggest cyber breaches when its citizen biometric database exposed the personal information of nearly 1.1 billion people

India has now launched a National Cyber Forensic Lab and ‘CyPAD’, a cyber crime unit of Delhi police in Dwarka, Delhi.

On Tuesday, Indian Union Minister for Home Rajnath Singh tweeted on the opening of the forensic lab and Cyber Prevention, Awareness and Detection Centre (CyPAD) saying that the move is to “build public trust in a digital world.”


Also named as Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), the lab will be operated by cyber cell of Delhi police. However, the NCFL will also be accessible to other police units across the country. To tap on the growing challenges to curb the problem of fake news and data breaches, a special training and analytics cell will work to monitor social media profiles of those in radar.

Addressing the issue, Amulya Patnaik reportedly said that this is the first time a dedicated lab has been formed to counter cyber crime. We are stepping up our efforts to enhance the cybercrime fighting capabilities to obstruct cyber threats.

Aimed at threat analysis, the lab has been made well equipped with crypto currency forensics, network forensics, malware forensics, and recovery of damaged hard drives. According to the police officials, the lab can identify cybercrime and analyse proofs quickly. It is an ongoing process, said DCP official.

A red letter day for Delhi Police Cyber Crime Unit as it gets a new identity and a dedicated office complex- CyPAD - inaugurated today by the Hon'ble Union Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh. The National Cyber Forensic Lab housed with CyPAD was also inaugurated by Hon'ble HM. pic.twitter.com/Imk8bI5VQr

— DCP Cybercrime (@DCP_CCC_Delhi) February 18, 2019

Enabling a nationwide network, the lab will have a stored database on the National Cyber Reporting Portal. Appreciating the commendable work by the school teachers, Rajnath Singh also titled them as ‘Cyber Awareness Mitras.’

According to a report by Comparitech — a consumer review firm, India ranks 15th in terms of cyber security, labelled as the least secure country against cybercrime. Profile hacking and photo morphing have been highlighted as the common concerns over internet safety.

However, Bangalore registered the maximum number of cyber crimes in the country — with nearly 5,035 FIRs in the cyber cell in 2018.