Reporting of cyber crimes to police low in Assam: Survey

The survey was conducted in the month of October to gauge the level of awareness around cybersecurity in the state and it was found that the respondents expressed a deep understanding on cybercrime though only 16% had reported to the police when exposed to cybercrimes.

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Reporting of cybercrimes to the police is considerably low in Assam though a high level of awareness and understanding exists among the internet users, according to a survey report conducted by the Assam police and the Cyber Peace Foundation.

The survey was conducted in the month of October to gauge the level of awareness around cybersecurity in the state and it was found that the respondents expressed a deep understanding on cybercrime though only 16% had reported to the police when exposed to cybercrimes.

"Only 16% of the respondents stated that they have reported to the police when exposed to cybercrime while 32% preferred reporting to the website and 22% doing nothing at all", the report said.

Sixty-two percent of the respondents, however, knew that cybercrime is reported at the police station and 58% of respondents were also aware that Assam Police had dedicated cyber police stations and police personnel to deal with cybercrimes.

Seventy percent of the respondents were aware of crimes committed with the intent of stealing the data from computer hardware while 71% were aware of online harassment, 78% about hacking, 68% about online impersonation and 64% about spreading fake news.

Moreover, 71% of the respondents knew that they are not supposed to click on a pop-up window that appears on the internet.

About 73% of the respondents were also aware that it was not safe to use public WiFi connections which are not password protected and 74% were aware not to download mobile applications from sources other than apple store or google play store.

The majority of the internet users in the state access the web for social networking with 91% using sites such as Facebook and Whatsapp, 73% for professional use such as emails and seeking information, 81% for online purchases, 74% for accessing news and article, 76% for attending online classes and 70% for using banking services.

Most internet users in the state have faced some form of cyber attacks during the last one year with about 63% of the respondents at the receiving end of spam messages on their email.

Twenty-five percent of the respondents received hate messages on social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram while 26% of the respondents have received pictures or videos that contained nudity.

The survey was conducted by the Assam Police in collaboration with the NGO Cyber Peace Foundation as part of the Cyber Safety Month held in October every year to promote and bolster the levels of cyber safety awareness amongst citizens.

The Cyber Safety Month campaign garnered over 1.9 million impressions online across the platforms of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and Youtube while the Assam Police and CPF reached out to over 5,000 students and individuals to create awareness about the various forms of cyber threats.