Cybersecurity agency on anvil to safeguard telecom networks

The government is planning to form a national cybersecurity agency soon to ensure telecommunication networks and services remain safe, a senior official said.

"Cyberattacks have been rising multi-fold for the last few years and one has to secure the infrastructure. We will form a cybersecurity agency soon, that will take care of the threats, etc., on the telecom networks," the official said on condition of anonymity.

While the timeline and modalities are yet to be decided, the agency will be the nodal body around cyberspace.


Cyberattacks have been a global problem and countries like the US, UK and South Korea have already formed cybersecurity agencies to tackle the issue. The US tackles cyberthreats under the National Security Agency, the UK has formed a joint command and South Korea and Japan have formed agencies to check cyberattacks with participation from multiple stakeholders including the police and defence.

The Telecommunications Bill 2023 has made cyberattacks or unauthorised access to a telecom network a crime with imprisonment of three years or a fine of ₹2 crore, or a combination of both.

As per experts, in recent years, cyberattacks have been rising fast with telecom operators witnessing multiple attacks every day. The telecom companies too have realised the seriousness of the issue and have been pumping huge investments in infrastructure to secure the networks.

"Every country has to secure its cyber space because, in future, wars are not going to be fight through missiles or weapons but through cyberwarfare," said another official.

Apart from cyberattacks, the number of online frauds where the fraudster impersonates another person's identity and commits a cybercrime is rising. To tackle this, the Telecommunications Bill has provided for legal backing wherein anyone found to be forging the telecommunication identifier will be punished.

"The fraudsters shifted to Indian numbers by using a virtual telecom identifier. Now, no person will be able to form virtual identifiers, if they do serious punishment will be given," said the official.

As per the Bill, a telecommunication identifier means a series of digits, characters and symbols, or a combination thereof, used to identify uniquely a user, a telecommunication service, a telecommunication network, elements of a telecommunication network, telecommunication equipment, or an authorised entity.

The government will allot telecommunication identifiers for use by authorised entities and individuals. Identifiers allotted by international bodies may also be recognised by the government.

"With legal backing for cybersecurity and cybercrimes, now we have an avenue by which we can enforce our requirements and our law outside India also," said the official when asked how the perpetrators of cyber frauds and crimes, who stay outside India, will be penalised.