Cyberdome is a technological research and development centre of Kerala Police conceived as a centre of excellence in cyber security as well as technology augmentation for effective policing.

It envisages as a high-tech public-private partnership centre of collaboration for different stakeholders in the domain of cyber security and handling of cyber crimes, in a proactive manner.

Two years ago, when India was hit by a ransomware attack, Kerala was spared because of the warnings received by Cyberdome. Later, it had exposed a vital security vulnerability in the state’s Integrated Financial Management System. The centre was lauded by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for its successful propaganda war against online games such as Blue Whale Challenge.

Cyberdome launched a social media lab to prevent atrocities against women and children on social media.

Background

Cyberdome was launched in 2016 to meet the long-term security challenges in the digital arena, by bridging the gap between the latest changes and innovations in cyberspace and the skill set of cops in combating the emerging cyber threats.

It acts as the nodal centre for policing the social networking sites and for awareness campaigns by the police.

One of the main objectives of the Cyberdome is to prevent cyber crimes through the development of a cyber threat resilient ecosystem in the state to defend against the growing threat of cyber attacks by synergising with other departments and nodal agencies.

Cyberdome makes a collective coordination among government departments and agencies, academia, research groups, non-profits, individual experts from the community, ethical hackers, private organisations, and other law enforcement agencies in the country.

It also has many national and international cyber security collaborations to fight against the borderless nature of cyber crimes.

The industry and software / technology companies are providing their technical expertise and capabilities to assist the police in various fields of cyber security and technology augmentation for effective policing.

Why is it necessary in digital era?

With the Internet assuming a central role in society, its weaknesses have also come to the fore. The worldwide interconnected digital information and communications infrastructure, collectively known as cyberspace, underpins almost every aspect of modern society and renders vital support for the economy, governance, civil infrastructure, public safety and national security.

Nowadays, it is observed that cyber criminals are frequently exploiting network vulnerabilities, terrorists are using the Internet for information exchange and communication.

Online sexual violence and child sex abuse imagery, online frauds, terrorist activities, data loss and data breaches and identity theft as well as defacement are common. The dark web and cyber warfare are emerging areas of online threat.

Two major challenges to the law enforcement include jurisdiction issues and discovering the identity of a cyber criminal.

The issue of cyber security needs to move beyond traditional policing activities and requires a different outlook to deal with technology. To ensure effectiveness and coordinate response in tackling the emerging cyber security threats prevailing in the state, a technology centre is required to foster the capabilities and expertise of police as well as to develop strategies to deal with this dynamic challenging environment of technology.

Focus areas

Cyber security: Protection of the departmental systems, networks and data in cyberspace. Cyberdome is to provide continuous attention that is required to protect sensitive government and personal digital assets to safeguard national security.

Cyber intelligence: Providing insights for cyber intelligence by tracking and analysing the activities of the cyber world. Social media analytics, anti-piracy measures on the internet, virtual policing, monitoring of online sex rackets, preventing child pornography and countering cyber terror activities are the key focus areas.

Incident response: Identifying the perpetrators of attack, assessment of damage and taking adequate steps to minimise the loss by using tools, techniques and resources at its disposal. The objective is to detect and react to the computer security incidents.

Cyber forensics: To provide technical support for investigation teams dealing with cyber crimes, which involve scientific processes of identification, seizure, acquisition, authentication, analysis, documentation and preservation of digital evidence.

US CyberDome to protect 2020 election

An A-list of cyber experts, including former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, has put its weight behind the US CyberDome, a non-partisan initiative to protect presidential campaigns against foreign influence. US CyberDome is comprised of cybersecurity experts who have trained and practised at the world’s largest accredited computer forensics and incident response institute in the world, the Defense Cyber Crime Center, as well as the US Department of Defense and National Institute of Standards and Technology.