The rise in cyber crimes during the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of cyberspace and the rise in cyber crimes can be best tackled through better awareness and capacity building of people,Assam’s Information Technology department’s Principal Secretary Anurag Goel said on Friday. 
“The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of cyberspace, which is evident in the increase in cyber attacks during the past few years. This can only be tackled through better awareness and capacity building to recognize and report cybercrimes”, Goel said while speaking at the launch of the nation-wide campaign #TrueCyberSafe.
The campaign has been launched by Truecaller, the leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication, and civil society organisation CyberPeace Foundation, in collaboration with Assam Police, to create awareness and train people to tackle Cyber frauds leading to a safer online experience.
The Assam government has taken cognizance of this issue and initiated several measures in the past, including organizing a month-long cyber awareness drive and issuing a one-stop guide book on how to stay safe online, Goel said.
”We are very happy to see Truecaller play a role in raising awareness and we are confident that this will prove to be an extremely fruitful exercise”, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Guwahati Commissioner of Police Harmeet Singh said that with rapid innovations in technology, there is also a corresponding rise in cyber threats and online harassment.
India has seen a five-fold jump in cyber fraud cases between 2018 and 2021 and ”as we continue our march towards technology, these negative externalities will also continue to grow”, he said.
”It is, therefore, imperative that we take measures to empower citizens, and the first step towards achieving this is by raising awareness about digital safety and outlining the ways in which people can report cyber crimes. I’m certain that this nationwide program will go a long way in realizing this goal”, Singh said.
Truecaller’s Director of Public Affairs Pragya Misra Mehrishi said that with the world moving to digital space and the internet being the town square of this century, it is where debate takes place, communities are built, products are sold and reputations are made.
”We remain committed to building trust in communication by making it safe and to build this mission, we are conducting our first set of training in Assam as part of our national campaign called #TrueCyberSafe”, she said.
Mehrishi said that Truecaller was excited to partner with the Assam Police and receive support from the Principal Secretary of Assam to encourage digital users to learn how to stay safe online, take steps to report cybercrimes and aid them in nurturing the faculties of critical thinking and empathy.
”We are certain that this program will play an instrumental role in raising awareness and making digital communication safer for all, she added.
Global President of CyberPeace Foundation Major Vineet Kumar said that for the past two decades his organisation has emphasised on online safety and the issues that might be faced in the upcoming days.
Post the onset of the pandemic, a rise in online frauds was noted and hence ”we have constantly collaborated with organisations across the globe to ensure that the netizens stay CyberAware and CyberAlert and they know the mechanism to report and raise their voices”, he said.
”We, along with Truecaller, believe that this program on understanding online threats and safety is the future of Internet use. When we combine our content and expertise of Truecaller, we can create truly transformative learning experiences that deliver actionable intelligence and we are hopeful to provide the participants with lessons to follow for a safer online environment”, he added.
The safety training that begins from Assam will be held in five regions across India to increase awareness about the steps that our users can take to avoid fraud, spam and scams.
