What happened

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced development and operational use of two connected initiatives for combating cyber frauds and misuse of telecom resources. DoT developed ASTR, an artificial intelligence and big data analytics tool that identifies suspicious mobile connections and triggers disconnection after failure in re-verification. DoT also developed DIP (Digital Intelligence Platform) to enable bi-directional information sharing with stakeholders, including the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

How ASTR and citizen reporting work

DoT reported that ASTR identifies suspicious mobile connections and that a large number of such connections have been disconnected after failing re-verification. DoT also highlighted the role of the Sanchar Saathi facility, which enables citizens to report suspected fraud communications. DoT indicated that its analysis uses crowd-sourced citizen reports rather than acting only on individual reports, and that disconnect actions were also based on these crowd-sourced analytics.

Background and earlier position

Under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, cybercrime matters are allocated to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The Constitution of India places “Police” and “Public Order” in the domain of State Governments under the Seventh Schedule. In this governance structure, telecom misuse for cybercrimes and financial frauds requires coordination between the telecom regulator/administrative authority and cybercrime coordination mechanisms.

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