Need to scale up capacity to fight cyber crime: Chidambaram

Law enforcement agencies need to quickly scale up capacity to fight cyber crime as dimensions of security problem increase manifold in the online space, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Monday.

"We have taken numerous steps to protect the physical infrastructure...I think all that we have done to protect the infrastructure in the physical space seems to be a lighter task than when we face threats that have been outlined in the cyber space," Chidambaram said while launching a report on cyber security prepared by software industry body Nasscom.

He said the dimension of the security problem "grows manifold in crimes on cyber space" with offences such as identity theft, hacking, financial fraud, child pornography and corporate espionage.

"From a national security point of view, this is an important report and law enforcement agencies should quickly scale up their capacity to deal with these new crimes," Chidambaram said.

The report, 'Securing Our Cyber Frontiers', by Nasscom and Data Security Council of India (DSCI) suggested setting up a national structure for cyber security, which would clearly define the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.

It has also recommended establishing a National Threat Intelligence Centre, which would integrate all existing information sources.