Crypto Forensic Lab Established By Indian Govt

India’s Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated a national cyber forensic lab (NCFL) to better equip the country in the fight against cybercrime.

Local news outlet The Hindu reported that the national cyber forensic lab, which is part of the Union Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center (I4C), will include a unit that will focus on cryptocurrency. The lab will reportedly help officers detect cyberfraud and in the future, the facility will prove to be an asset for the police.

“We are now equipped with technology to recover data from damaged hard disks, cryptocurrency analysis, malware forensic and data can be retrieved from 33,000 kinds of mobile models available in the market. Cyberexperts will train our staff,” said Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik.

Alongside the the national cyber forensic lab, the Union Home Minister also inaugurated the Delhi Police’s cybercrime unit, called the Cyber Protection Awareness and Detection Center (Cypad), which will provide cyber investigation, cyber forensics, cyber safety and security-related services to the citizens as well as to police units and agencies of Delhi.

“It is the first cybercrime awareness and detection center opened in the country,” Patnaik sadi. “To be selected by the MHA to host the cyber forensic lab is a great moment of pride. The entire range of cyber forensic will be covered under CyPAD. We are selecting the staff on the basis of their technical qualification and their computer knowledge.”

The news came after law enforcement officers in Mumbai busted a gang which allegedly orchestrated a $13 million crypto fraud over multiple states. According to local reports, the gang launched a cryptocurrency called ‘Cashcoin’ about twelve months ago. They sold this cryptocurrency to investors and promised to double their investments.

“The accused held meetings in Mumbai, Surat and other parts of Gujarat, and lured people into investing their hard-earned money by promising to double it in two months,” the report said. “Initially, the gang repaid a few investors to lure more people in and then defaulted. Their intention was to cheat.”