Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that stringent action will be taken against those who spread false rumours about COVID-19 on social media.
“The Cyber Police will be monitoring all messages and take action against those found guilty,” the Kerala CM said.
In a bid to tackle the increasing incidents of cyber related crimes in Kerala, the police department has decided to launch cybersafety awareness campaigns in the state.
As part of it, the Kerala PoliceCyberdome is partnering with CyberPeace Foundation (CPF), a leading civil society organization and thinktank of cybersecurity and policy experts to encourage cyber wellness and cybercrime awareness events and workshops among the public in the state.
Senior IPS officer Manoj Abraham on Tuesday said Kerala PoliceCyberdome is partnering with CyberPeace Foundation in the fight against cybercrime and in creating a secure cyberspace.
According to CPF, owing to COVID-19 and perennial threats emanating from the domain of cyberspace, India currently trails behind its global counterparts in terms of capacity to address the growing volume of threats.
Phishing, scamming, malicious domains, stalkerware, ransomware, etc have witnessed a manifold increase in the last few months especially as internet usage surges owing to the restrictions around COVID-19 designed to contain the spread of the virus.
"We will be collaborating, cooperating and coordinating to identify cyber threats, focusing on prevention of cyber security incidents and to develop strong, efficient mitigation mechanisms to fight cyber-crimes.
I hope our close co-operation will address emerging threats, provide guidance to the public on risk management; thus creating a resilient cyber space," said Abraham, ADGP (HQ) & Nodal Officer, Kerala PoliceCyberdome.
Under the partnership, CPF will work closely with police to co-create cybersafety awareness campaigns, train law enforcement officers on the nuances of investigation into cybercrimes and also enhance their knowledge building capacity in order to stay updated with the latest developments in the domain of cybercrimes, a CPF statement said here.
CPF said it will also co-promote various cybersafety educational campaigns and materials across social media and offline via handbooks, virtual training camps and more.
"Will constitute a CyberSecurity think tank and function through various expert committees to learn, understand, analyze, resolve, and manage multiple cybercrime issues.
Collaboration and extension with other institutions and ensuring public and private partnerships," it said.
Creation of knowledge and expertise to face new and emerging cybercrime challenges to suggest possible solutions and advocacy, CPF said.
The initiative will further strengthen the efforts between law enforcement authorities and CPF to jointly combat the menace of cybercrimes, it added.
(With PTI inputs.)