India and the US have
signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to improve cooperation in investigating
cybercrime, paving the way for agencies from the two sides to step up
collaboration on sharing threat intelligence and digital forensics. The MoU was signed by India’s ambassador to
the US, Vinay Kwatra, and Kristie Canegallo, the acting deputy secretary of the
United States homeland security investigations, in Washington on Friday, 17 Jan
’25 the external affairs ministry said.
The Indian Cybercrime
Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Union home ministry will implement the pact
from the Indian side, while the Department of Homeland Security, and its
constituent bodies, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the
Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center (C3) are the American
agencies that will collaborate on the MoU.
The external affairs ministry said cybercrimes have
“intricate linkages with the common security challenges faced by India and the
US”, such as terrorism
and violent extremism, terror financing, drug trafficking, organised crime,
human trafficking, illegal migration, money laundering and transportation
security. The MoU on cybercrime
investigations will “enable further strengthening of India-US security
cooperation, as part of our comprehensive and global strategic partnership”,
the statement said.
The two sides promote
cooperation between the private sector and government authorities on cybercrime
and cybersecurity under the 2016 framework for the India-US cyber relationship.
This framework also promotes closer cooperation among law enforcement agencies
to combat cybercrime between the two countries. Such cooperation includes
training workshops, enhancing dialogue, processes and procedures, and improving
the capacity of law enforcement agencies through joint training programmes. The
training has covered the drafting of appropriate requests for electronic
evidence in accordance with the laws and regulations of India and the US.
Cybercrime originating in India has been a specific
cause for concern for authorities in both countries. In recent years, law enforcement agencies of
India and the US have collaborated to target cyber-enabled financial crimes and
call centre fraud. Fake call centres in India that target Americans, especially
senior citizens, have been the focus of several joint actions.
In 2023, the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) worked with its Indian counterparts to
carry out 13 joint operations and made 26 arrests.