To check cyber threats in the digital era, Punjab Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan on Friday launched a three month long cyber campaign “Cyber Surakhya” in the state on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day being celebrated on 20th November every year.

 This campaign is jointly organized by the state in collaboration with the CyberPeace Foundation (CPF), an award-winning leading civil society organization and think tank of cyber security and policy experts.

Launching the three months long campaign in the presence of DGP Punjab Dinkar Gupta, Mahajan said according to the latest NCRB data, over 28,000 cyber crimes were committed in 2019. She added that such campaigns are necessary for educating the common public regarding the risks of losing hard earned money from their bank accounts merely on account of lack of digital literacy.  She said that the campaign would provide information to women and children for ways and means to ensure privacy while using online platforms and how to ward off and be protected from online stalkers and avenues to approach law enforcement agencies in times of need.

On the occasion, the Chief Secretary also released the CBSE publication “Cyber Safety” which has been translated into Punjabi language by the Community Affairs Division of the Punjab Police.

Speaking about the campaign, DGP Dinkar Gupta also shared his concern about the rise in cyber crimes and the requirement of awareness amongst women, children and senior citizens so that they could save themselves from online threats. 

He said that the State Cyber Crime Police Station was also looking into important cases of cyber crimes. In addition to this, cyber crime units had also been established in all districts of Punjab who were being imparted training for registering and investigating cyber crime cases, he added.

Gupta said the three month-long campaign being run by Punjab Police and CPF was designed to promote and bolster the levels of cyber safety awareness amongst netizens, particularly children, women, and senior citizens. In addition, he said this campaign would also focus on all major aspects of online/cyber safety and would leverage digital platforms, webinars, radio campaigns, and a host of other activities targeted at various age groups.

The DGP said this program would also include training modules for the police personnel working towards a cyber safe nation and  focus on issues such as child pornography, stalking and cyber grooming crimes being faced by women and children on a daily basis and causes lot of agony and harassment to the victims.

Gupta added that the campaigns would also be hosted across the social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube channel of the Punjab government.

Moreover, this campaign would also be aired on the FM stations in an endeavor to reach out to the internal areas of Punjab.  Throughout the campaign, new and emerging areas of cyber crime awareness would be imparted amongst the citizens.   He said the campaign would also empower citizens in not only identifying cyber threats but also in the prevention of various cyber security incidents before they happen and seek the right redressal in order to mitigate cyber threats. Therefore, the campaign would especially focus on cyber safety for children, women, and parents, along with cyber threats which are being emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gurpreet Kaur Deo ADGP Community Affairs Division & Public Grievances, Punjab and Nilambari Jagdale AIG Cyber Crime also participated in the deliberations of the digital launch.