New Cyber Command headed by Director General of Police to tackle cybercrimes and cybersecurity 

Karnataka State government establishes Cyber Command to combat rising cybercrime and enhance cybersecurity coordination, led by DGP.

The State government has constituted a new Cyber Command, to be headed by a Director General of Police, a holistic unit that for the first time brings together various aspects of cyberspace — tackling cybercrimes, cybersecurity, misinformation and disinformation and multi-agency coordination — under one unit. The order was issued on Wednesday, April 9. This has been a long-standing demand for better tackling of cyber issues in the State.

To date, these functions were under various units of the Karnataka State Police and E-Governance Department, marring the State’s response to increasing cyberthreats by lack of coordination. The formation of the Cyber Command under a police officer marks a paradigm shift in the State’s approach to cyber issues, as earlier the e-Governance Department dominated this ecosystem.

The move comes amidst rising cybercrime cases in the State. Bengaluru accounts for 20% of all cybercrimes registered in megacities in the country and the State has recorded over 52,000 cybercrimes over the last four years, the highest among all southern States. There have also been rising instances of cyberattacks on the State’s critical infrastructure, for instance, a recent DDoS attack on Kaveri 2.0 crippled property transactions for days, leading to huge losses to the State’s exchequer.

Even as all the 45 cybercrime police stations in the State will henceforth report to DGP (Cyber Command), the officer will also double up as the Chief Information Security Officer of Karnataka, for the first time bringing cybercrimes and cybersecurity under one unit.

The officers will also be members of the Home Minister-chaired Special Empowered Committee to oversee cybercrime prevention and handle cybercrimes and the Multi-Department Coordination Committee to tackle misinformation and disinformation. Thus the new set-up brings all security-related aspects of online activities in the State under one unit and a senior DGP rank officer.

DGP (Cybercrimes and Narcotics), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) will be the new DGP (Cyber Command) and the unit will function with the available resources in CID. Pronab Mohanty, who is presently posted as DGP (Cybercrimes and Narcotics) will take over as DGP (Cyber Command). 

Keeping in mind the multi-agency nature of cyber issues in the State, DGP (Cyber Command) will report to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department and not the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP), Karnataka State Police.