Amit Shah Addresses Inaugural Session Of The G20 Conference On Crime And Security In The Age Of NFTs, AI And The Metaverse

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said this at the inaugural session of the G20 Conference on Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs, AI and Metaverse in Gurugram. More than 900 participants including G20 countries, 9 special invitees, international organizations, and technology leaders, domain experts from India and across the globe are participating in the two-day conference

The Union Home Minister has given advice to China and Pakistan without naming them. Shah said, technology today has transcended all conventional geographical, political and economic boundaries. Today we live in a big global digital village. Although technology is a positive development bringing human society and countries closer together more and more rapidly, there are also some anti-social elements and selfish global forces who are using technology to cause economic and social harm to citizens and governments. The reference of the Home Minister was towards China and Pakistan. Apart from cyber crime, both these countries are also funding terrorists in various ways. Today 840 million Indians have an online presence. By 2025, a new 400 million Indians will enter the digital world. With the help of some selfish global forces, terrorists have started using the technique of ‘onion peeling’ i.e. Darknet. Through this technique, they become successful in hiding their identity. Second, terrorist organizations are also using darknet to spread radical material.

Terrorists looking for new ways to raise financial resources

Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said this at the inaugural session of the G20 Conference on Crime and Security in the Age of NFTs, AI and Metaverse in Gurugram. More than 900 participants including G20 countries, 9 special invitees, international organizations, technology leaders, domain experts from India and across the globe are participating in this two-day conference. Shah said, terrorists are finding new ways to carry out violence, radicalize youth and raise financial resources. New methods are being used by terrorists for financial transactions in the form of virtual assets. Terrorists are taking the help of dark-net to hide their identity and to spread radical material. We have to understand the pattern of these activities running on dark-net and find solutions for the same.

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UPI transaction of Rs 35 trillion took place in India, says Shah in G20 conference

The Union Home Minister said, there has been a 250 per cent increase in internet connection in the last 9 years. The cost per GB of data has come down by 96 per cent. India to lead global digital payments with 90 million transactions in 2022. So far, UPI transactions worth Rs 35 trillion have taken place in India. India accounts for 46 per cent of total global digital payments. There has been a 50-fold increase in transaction volume since 2017-18. Six lakh kilometers of optical fiber cable has been laid under Bharat Net. The possibilities of cyber threats have also increased. Citing Interpol’s ‘Global Trends Summary Report’ for the year 2022, Shah said, some of the cybercrime trends such as ransomware, phishing, online scams, online child sexual abuse and hacking are posing a serious threat across the globe. There is a possibility that these cyber crimes will increase manifold in future.

Intelligence and Information Sharing Network

The Union Home Minister said that greater focus on cyber security at the G20 forum can contribute positively to ensuring the security and integrity of critical ‘information infrastructure’ and ‘digital public platforms’. Discussion on cyber security and cyber crime on this platform will help in the development of intelligence and information sharing network. Along with this, global cooperation will be strengthened.

In the wake of the digital age, cyber security has become an essential aspect of global security, requiring adequate attention to its economic and geo-political implications. It is necessary to strengthen the capabilities of nations and international organizations to better deal with newly emerging, traditional and non-traditional challenges, including terrorism, terror financing, radicalization, narco, narco-terror links and misinformation.

Terrorists using virtual assets

The transformation of our conventional security challenges from ‘dynamite to metaverse’ and ‘hawala to crypto currency’ is definitely a matter of concern for the countries of the world. Terrorists are finding new ways to perpetrate violence, radicalize youth and raise financial resources. New methods are being used by terrorists for financial transactions in the form of virtual assets. Terrorists are using dark-net to hide their identity and spread radical material. Shah said that we have to understand the pattern of these activities running on the dark-net. The Metaverse, which was once science fiction, has now entered the real world. This may create new opportunities for terrorist organizations mainly for propaganda, recruitment and training.

He said that this would make it easier for terrorist organizations to select such people, target them and prepare material according to their weaknesses. The metaverse also creates opportunities to duplicate user identities, known as ‘deep-fakes’. By using better biometric information about individuals, criminals will be able to impersonate users and steal their identities.

Fake news and ‘toolkit’ also a challenge

Ransomware attacks, sale of critical personal data, online harassment, child abuse to fake news and mis-information campaigns are being carried out by cyber criminals with ‘toolkits’. At the same time, there is also a growing tendency to make critical information and financial systems strategic targets. Such activities are a matter of national concern as their activities have a direct impact on national security, law and order and economy. Shah emphasized that if we have to stop such crimes and criminals, then we have to think beyond the conventional geographical boundaries. The targets in digital warfare are not our physical resources, but our ability to act online. Disruption of the online network even for a few minutes can be fatal. Our internet vision should neither be one of excessive freedom threatening the existence of the nation, nor of isolationist structures like digital firewalls. India has set up some such ‘open-access digital public infrastructure’ models, which have become examples in the world today. India has developed other models such as Aadhaar model of digital identity, UPI model of real-time fast payments, open network for digital commerce, open health service network in the field of health, etc. According to World Bank estimates, cyber attacks could cause losses of around $5.2 trillion to the world during the years 2019-2023. The use of cryptocurrency by malicious threat actors further complicates its detection and prevention.

Biggest training program in the world

Shah said, the Government of India has taken steps to frame a uniform cyber strategy, real-time reporting of cyber-crimes, capacity building of law enforcement agencies, design analytical tools, establish a national network of forensic laboratories, ensure cyber hygiene and has worked in every field to spread cyber awareness amongst all the citizens. Now the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System has been implemented in all the police stations of the country. To ensure a comprehensive response against cybercrime, the Government of India has set up the Indian Cyber-Crime Coordination Center (I4C). Government of India has created a huge open online training platform called ‘CyTrain’ portal. This will be the world’s largest training program in the field of cyber security.