Government to set up panel to strengthen cyberspace monitoring: Rajnath Singh

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday admitted gaps in cyberspace monitoring by the government and said he had set up a committee to suggest ways to strengthen the system and ensure proper monitoring of cyberspace.

It was exposed last week that intelligence agencies had no clue of the identity or location of Mehdi Biswas, the Bangalore man behind the ISIS Twitter handle @ShahiWitness, till UK’s Channel 4 exposed his identity. The Home Minister’s statement was prompted after former Home Secretary and now BJP MP, RK Singh on Tuesday pointed out in Parliament that the government had no control over ISIS propaganda in cyberspace as servers were located abroad. RK Singh also pointed out that though the home ministry had banned ISIS and put it under the schedule of banned organisations under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, it was not being communicated properly to people that ISIS was a dangerous organisation.

"It is important that people of the country are told that this is a dangerous organisation and they should stay away from it. The statements that should come to that effect…that we have not seen yet," RK Singh said in Parliament on Tuesday. The home minister meanwhile gave credit to families from minority community for discouraging their children from getting influenced by the terror group.