The Assam Police and Cyber-Security think tank Cyber Peace Foundation (CPF) has jointly launched a month-long cyber safety awareness campaign targeting youngsters in the state, said Additional Director General of Police (Administration and Security) Harmeet Singh.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had launched the awareness campaign on the occasion of Assam Police day on Thursday.
Sonowal in a tweet said, "The month-long campaign will raise awareness on cybercrimes and safety, particularly among the youth."
Talking about the campaign, Harmeet Singh said that it will focus on major aspects of cyber safety through programmes on digital platforms, webinars, radio campaigns, and activities targeted at people of various age groups, particularly school-going children.
The programmes will be hosted on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
It will focus on emerging areas of cybercrime awareness with various aspects of new-age cyber frauds (telephone and financial frauds), identity theft crimes (phishing and fishing), and malware detection.
The campaign will empower citizens to not only identify cyber threats but also prevent cyber security incidents and seek correct redressal to mitigate the threats, he said.
It will focus on the cyber safety of children, women, and elderly persons, along with the cyber threats that have emerged during the COVID-19 crisis, the officer said.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vulnerabilities of cyberspace, which can only be dealt with awareness. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the widespread panic and confusion in the society and this month-long campaign will help us in raising awareness," Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said.
Singh added that due to the pandemic, a large number of people have become active online, which has resulted in a major increase in screen time and online activities. This, in turn, has resulted in an increase in online transactions and a consequent spike in cyber fraud.
