Department of Telecommunications has taken various policy and technical measures to strengthen the security of the telecom network in the country

India, Feb. 4 -- The Government of India has issued a release:

Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, in a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha today said that the Department of Telecommunications has taken various policy and technical measures to strengthen the security of the telecom network and to prevent cyber-attacks and misuse of telecommunications infrastructure in the country. The notable ones are as under:

DoT has developed Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI), which is a risk-based metric that classifies a mobile number to have been associated with Medium, High, or Very High risk of financial fraud. FRI empowers stakeholders-especially banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies ( NBFCs), and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service providers to prioritize enforcement and take additional customer protection measures in case a mobile number has high risk. As reported by stakeholders, total fraud amount prevented based on transaction decline and alert/notifications given to citizens is more than Rs.1,000 crores.

DoT has developed Sanchar Saathi, a citizen centric initiative, which facilitates citizens to report suspected fraud Communications, to know mobile connections in their name, to report lost/ stolen mobile handsets, to check genuineness of mobile handset etc. Outcomes of Sanchar Saathi are as under:

DoT has been actively promoting digital safety and preventing telecom-related fraud through widespread awareness campaigns under Sanchar Saathi and FRI initiatives. Explainer videos and infographics about these initiatives are regularly prepared and uploaded on DoT's social media platforms for spreading awareness. DoT has also launched Sanchar Mitra scheme, through which student volunteers have been engaged to educate citizens about digital safety, fraud prevention, and the use of the Sanchar Saathi portal and app. Apart from above, citizen outreach includes multilingual news articles and ads, digital screens and hoardings in public spaces, TV and radio messages, local-level activities by DoT field units, SMS campaigns with Telecom Service Providers, and extensive social media content.

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.