Why in news?
The committee’s 254th report, "Cyber Crime – Ramifications, Protection and Prevention," tabled on August 20, 2025.

Key Findings of Report
 
1. Parliament Standing Committee on Home Affairs (August 2025)

• The reports highlights the exponential rise in cybercrime complaints and sophisticated financial frauds.
• Cryptocurrency: The report references crypto 15 times, citing its role in scams, laundering, and ransomware. The committee urges stricter regulation and cross-border cooperation to monitor virtual asset service providers and prevent abuse.
• Scale of complaints and losses: Over 53.9 lakh complaints registered on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal since August 2019 till November 2024. Nearly 85% of these concerned financial crimes, often linked to cryptocurrency. The amount recovered was ₹31,594 crore, but a majority of losses were not recoverable.

• Recommendations:

• Strengthen regulation of virtual asset service providers
• Foster cross-border intelligence-sharing
• Launch public awareness campaigns against crypto-based frauds
• Enhance multilateral monitoring of crypto exchanges and wallets

2. Standing Committee on Finance (Report of July 2023, Action Taken Updated October 2024)

• Recognized government initiatives: Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND), National Cybercrime Reporting Portal, and other coordination mechanisms.
• Stressed the need to enhance regulatory control over service providers, particularly big tech and telecom companies, and not allow them to sideline inputs from Indian regulators.
• Committee calls for a Cyber Protection Authority to streamline the current decentralized regulatory landscape, improving the government’s ability to counter cyber threats.
• Key recommendations accepted by Government include improved oversight and regulatory integration.

3. Committee on Communications and Information Technology (Feb 2024)

• Noted a trust deficit in the digital payment ecosystem due to high losses from cyber frauds and low recovery rates.
• Between 2022 and 2023, reported cyber frauds rose from ₹2,296 crore to ₹5,574 crore, but the recovery rate over three years (2020-2022) was just about 10.4%.
• Called for urgent measures to increase public trust in digital payments through robust security and rapid fraud resolution.

4. Ministry of Home Affairs Initiatives (2025)

• Measures include blocking thousands of suspicious Skype and WhatsApp accounts, workshops for hot-spot regions, and the operationalization of platforms like Samanvaya for law enforcement data sharing.
• Seven Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) set up for cybercrime hotspots to boost multi-jurisdictional coordination among States/UTs.

Current Challenges Identified

• Rapid escalation in cybercrime complaints and financial frauds
• Cryptocurrency’s exploitation for laundering, scams, and cross-border fraud
• Fragmented regulatory landscape with insufficient integration
• Low recovery rate for fraud victims and significant trust deficit in digital transactions
• Need for public awareness and education on cyber hygiene

Key Recommendations

• Strengthen regulation of virtual asset service providers to monitor and control cryptocurrency exchanges and prevent their misuse in scams, laundering, and ransomware.
• Establish a unified national Cyber Protection Authority to streamline the currently decentralized regulatory framework and improve government coordination against cyber threats.
• Foster cross-border intelligence-sharing and multilateral cooperation to tackle cybercrime and cryptocurrency-related frauds more effectively.
• Enhance oversight and regulatory powers over technology and telecom service providers, ensuring their accountability and cooperation with Indian regulatory agencies.
• Launch public awareness and education campaigns focused on cyber hygiene, cybercrime risks, and safe digital practices to reduce victimization.
• Improve multi-jurisdictional law enforcement coordination through Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) for better investigation and prosecution of cybercrime hotspots.
• Boost recovery rates of financial frauds and improve trust in digital payment ecosystems by enforcing robust security measures and rapid fraud resolution.
• These findings show Parliament’s growing urgency to address cybercrime, with a focus on regulatory reform, cryptocurrency risks, coordinated law enforcement, and public awareness in 2025.

These recommendations aim to address the rapid rise in cybercrime complaints, especially related to cryptocurrency and financial frauds, and strengthen India's legal, technological, and operational framework for cybercrime prevention and control in 2025

Overview of Cyber Crime in India (2025)
Current Status and Trends

• India faces an unprecedented volume and sophistication of cyber threats targeting individuals, organizations, and critical sectors.
• Over 369 million malware detections were recorded in the year leading up to 2025, averaging about 702 detections per minute.
• Cyber attacks are spreading beyond metro cities to Tier 2 urban centers, with Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Bengaluru as major hotspots.
• The healthcare sector is the top targeted, accounting for nearly 22% of attacks, followed by hospitality and banking (about 19.5% and 17.4%, respectively).
• Attacks increasingly involve AI-powered malware, ransomware, cloud vulnerabilities, supply chain compromises, and fintech app scams.
• The rise of cloud computing creates new attack surfaces, with 62% of cyber detections occurring in cloud environments.
• Cybercriminals are leveraging generative AI and social media for highly targeted scams and impersonations.
• State-sponsored cyber attacks are also a concern in India's geopolitical context.

Types of Cyber Crimes in India

• Crimes against individuals: Cyberstalking, online harassment, sexual harassment, cyberbullying, defamation.
• Crimes against property: Hacking, identity theft, data destruction, ransomware attacks, financial fraud, phishing, software piracy.
• Crimes against the government: Cyberterrorism, cyber warfare, hacking of government databases, distribution of pirated software.
• Specialized crimes include child pornography, domain squatting, salami attacks (micro-thefts via computers), and fake app frauds.

Cyber Crime Statistics

• Dramatic rise in cybercrime complaints in recent years; reported cases increased five-fold over three years.
• Financial fraud related to cybercrime tripled with substantial monetary losses, although only a fraction of the losses are recovered.
• Cybercrime via cryptocurrency frauds and virtual asset misuse is expanding rapidly.

Government Measures and Initiatives

• National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal enables citizens to report cybercrimes easily.
• Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) coordinates responses to cyber threats, conducts audits, awareness, and issues advisories.
• National Cyber Security Policy (2013) provides a framework for protecting critical information infrastructure.
• Cyber Crime Prevention for Women and Children (CCPWC) initiative focuses on combating cybercrimes targeting vulnerable groups.
• Programs like Cyber Surakshit Bharat aim to train government officials in cybersecurity.
• Establishment of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) to provide an ecosystem for law enforcement agencies.
• Special Joint Cyber Coordination Teams (JCCTs) are set up in hotspots for coordination among states.
• Increasing collaboration between government agencies and private sector to build cybersecurity capabilities.

India’s cybercrime landscape in 2025 is characterized by rapid growth in volume and complexity of threats, increasing financial and social impact, and proactive government initiatives to combat evolving risks.

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