THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After being caught in the red tape for about two years, the Cyberdome project of the state police is finally taking off on February 17.
Already, 30 IT and cyber security firms and about 500 ethical hackers have expressed their willingness to join hands with Cyberdome, which would be a major leap in enhancing cyber forensic capabilities of the state.
Home minister Ramesh Chennithala will inaugurate the 2,600 sq ft Cyberdome at Technopark. It is considered to be a first public-private-partnership initiative by a police agency.
"We are in the process of verifying the credentials of those who are offering to join. Experts from many leading technology firms have also offered cooperation. The private parties would associate on a voluntary basis and most of them would be providing their services online," said Thiruvananthapuram-range IG Manoj Abraham, the nodal officer for the project.
Despite the procedural delays, Cyberdome had already started its activities like vulnerability assessment of some government departments, provided Wi-Fi security to the International Film Festival of Kerala, doing virtual policing and social media analytics. A cyber defence corp has also been constituted by a group of experts in cyber security.
The PPP model has been adopted for the project with the primary objective of tapping the rapidly changing technology - both concerning the cyber attacks as well as cyber forensics, said Thiruvananthapuram rural SP Shefeen Ahmed, who is also associated with Cyberdome.
The primary activity of Cyberdome would be cyber intelligence where the activities in the cyber world would be continuously monitored and analysed to detect suspicious activities like hacking attempts and online sex trades.
To ensure the security of state's cyber networks, a cyber security wing would be functioning at Cyberdome. Incidence response and cyber forensic divisions would deal with cyber attacks.
Research and development wing, training and awareness creation and consultancy services are other activities of the Cyberdome.
Cyberdome would enter into tie-ups with institutions like Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management – Kerala.
About a dozen of cops with technical expertise were selected for Cyberdome and imparted training at Centre for Development of Advanced Computing.
“We are expecting a voluntary association with cyber experts working with international organisations,” said Mr Abraham.
As part of the launch of Cyberdome a musical extravaganza by Stephen Devassy and a commando show would be held at Technopark.
