Crisis management plan imperative to counter cybercrime threats in India: ASSOCHAM-PwC study

Considering that Indian cyberspace is vulnerable to cyber crime, the country must formulate a crisis management plan to tackle cyber attacks, cyber terrorism and cyber espionage attempts, noted a recent ASSOCHAM-PwC joint study.

"It is imperative for law enforcement agencies to have a system which will have a collaborative framework for receiving video feeds on a need basis from closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance systems and subsystems," highlighted an ASSOCHAM-PwC joint study titled 'Safe cities: Collaborative monitoring For the community, by the community.'

Leveraging the capabilities of a good video management system (VMS), when clubbed with video analytics, will also allow efficient access to these external camera feeds at the command and control centre.

"Collaborative monitoring of video feeds not only facilitates greater coverage of video surveillance within the city but also serves as deterrence for crimes and assists law enforcement agencies in controlling incident escalation, crime detection and its investigation," said the study.

Collaborative monitoring is a unique tool, wherein the security and law enforcement agency takes advantage of the extensive network of surveillance cameras deployed by communities across the city as well as the cameras of other private and government establishments on a need basis.

It is an extremely prudent enabler for police department, as while they strengthen their bond with the communities, they can use any information or footage gathered from these security cameras to support investigation and the prosecution of criminals.

The advantage provided by leveraging the extensive network of external cameras ensures enhanced crime monitoring through a cost-effective, widespread and scalable model.

However, while implementing the collaborative monitoring framework there is a need to carefully manage certain risks like conflict with existing laws and regulatory proposals, lack of awareness within communities, funding related issues, privacy and anonymity related issues and others to garner maximum fruits out of such initiatives.

Showcasing the examples of the impact of collaborative surveillance, the study highlighted that crime graph in Hyderabad came down by 14 percent in 2015 compared to that in previous year. While UK based Scotland Yard security agency used CCTV footage as evidence in 95 per cent of murder cases.