PUBLIC AWARENESS AND EDUCATION

Public awareness and education with respect to the online data leaks has been on rise to make sure that
people do not fell on the trap of hackers and cyber criminals. Even some of the big companies and
organisations are unable to protect the data of their clients. Data of Air India's Clients, UpStocks account
holders and CAT applicants have already been leaked before.
Recently, it has been alleged that personal data of 81.5 Crore people has got leaked which got registered
in ICMR during the Covid-19 pandemic.

LAUNCHING CAMPAINGS TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ON DATA SECURITY.

According to The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), 47 incidents of data leak
and 142 incidents of data breaches have been reported during the last five calendar years.

To raise awareness for these crimes, several steps have already been taken, like:-

- QUAD countries made efforts to strengthen cyber security awareness to save trillions of dollars and
benefit economies.

- Google India collaborated with MeitY and Digital India to spread awareness and to encourage people to
take basic precautions.

- MeitY undertook ‘Stay Safe Online Campaign’ during India’s G20 chairmanship.

- WhatsApp launched ‘Stay Safe with WhatsApp’.

- Odisha Chief Minister flagged off 34 vehicles on 30th September to sensitise people on cyber security.

- Agra Police initiated ‘Cyber Peace Jagrukta’ campaign to spread knowledge.

Promoting responsible online behaviour and awareness:-

- Digital Citizenship can play an important role to promote the respectful way of interaction in the online
space. It can lead to ethical use of technology. It can make people feel safe online as others will behave
respectfully with each other.

- Police of every state can collaborate with online platforms to spread the knowledge about digital
crimes, safety and usage of Internet and social media apps. Assam Police had collaborated with Meta to
do the same with 'We Think Digital’ campaign.