The Directorate of Information and Public Relations, Union Territory of Ladakh organised a workshop on cyber security at Auditorium Hall, Kargil, on April 18.

While addressing the audience, SSP Kargil, Ram R highlighted various cyber-related crimes such as investment fraud, cryptocurrency fraud and ponzi-type schemes and urged the audience to exercise caution. He said that identity theft has now begun to affect government servants. Scamsters use their identity to create fake accounts, he said. People then end up becoming victims when scamsters use blackmail tactics through various means. ATM frauds have also become rampant these days, he added. Further, he outlined the measures undertaken by Ladakh Police to combat cyber fraud.

The Nodal Officer of SVEEP, Ghulam Rasool Lal also addressed the audience and gave an outline of the activities related to voter education and electoral literacy. Further, he informed the gathering about various apps of the Election Commission of India and about how useful they will be for first-time voters in particular. The SVEEP selfie points and banners were displayed prominently in and outside the auditorium.

Resource persons from the Police, banking sector and legal field were invited for the workshop to explain the nuances of cyber frauds simply and lucidly. They threw ample light on their given topics from different perspectives. 

Sub-Inspector Tsering Dolkar from the Cyber Crime Unit of Ladakh Police gave an elaborate PowerPoint Presentation and extensively threw light on various types of cyber frauds and enlightened the audience about how to take precautionary measures. She also informed the audience about recent cases of cyber fraud in which the victims were from Kargil. She also got into a lively interaction with the audience and replied to their questions.

Addressing the legal dimensions of cyber security, the Legal Assistant of the Directorate of Information, Muzaffar Hussain outlined the existing laws related to cybercrime in India and informed the audience about the supervisory and monitoring bodies involved. Further, he pointed out that many cases of cybercrime have no positive outcome as the perpetrators are sitting in foreign lands and our law enforcement agencies have no jurisdiction there.

The representative of Cluster Head, J&K Bank Kargil, Zeeshan Ali briefed the participants about various bank-related cyber frauds and data privacy issues, particularly bank-related cyber phishing. 

District Informatics Officer, NIC-Kargil, Iftikhar Hussain (Nodal Officer, IT Applications) briefed the audience about the working mechanism of EVMs, VVPAT machines and the significance of various applications of Election Commission of India like cVIGIL, KYC and Saksham.

The Regional Arts and Theatre Art Group (RaNTHAG), led by its Director Kacho Ahmed Khan, presented a play demonstrating the vulnerability and severe consequences of cyber fraud innovatively and effectively. 

A short film on digital payment fraud was also screened during the workshop to bring home the simple point that anybody and everybody could be targeted by scamsters irrespective of the level of awareness. 

In his address, the Joint Director of Information, Imteeaz Kacho said that the Department of Information and Public Relations is organising workshops in both Kargil and Leh on the same day on various topics including cyber security. He added that the Secretary of the Department was very particular about having workshops on cyber frauds to sensitise citizens and government employees alike about the risks involved. He emphasised the importance of caution and awareness in today’s digital era and expressed concerns about how government employees uploading data regarding various schemes may become victims of cyber crimes. Further, he extended gratitude to all esteemed guests and experts for sharing their valuable knowledge on cyber fraud and various mitigation strategies. 

Kacho lauded the efforts of the participating students in their attempt to learn as much as possible from the resource persons and speakers. He pointed out how effectively RaNTHAG has been revolutionising the theatre scene in Kargil through hard-hitting messages regarding social evils and other issues.