The Kerala Police Cyberdome, an initiative of the Kerala Police to combat emerging cyber threats and promote extensive research, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Technology-Calicut (NIT-C) for a strategic partnership for advanced cyber crime investigation.
Based on the official agreement recently signed between Inspector General of Police (Cyber Operations) H. Venketesh and Chairperson of the Centre for Industry Institutional Relations Jose Mathew at the NIT-C, the Kerala Police will also associate with the NIT-C’s efforts to establish a national-level Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence.
The initiative is expected to allow the Kerala Police to make use of the vast knowledge base of academic experts at the NIT-C. It will also ensure availability of technical experts and cyber professionals in the area of digital Information Technology who can advise and assist the police on various cyber and IT related projects.
A senior police officer pointed out that the presence of 15 departments and an equal number of multi-disciplinary centres at the NIT-C would offer a huge opportunity to the cyber police team to improve their expertise in the domain. Research and innovations under the alliance will cover areas such as cyber security, information security, cyber forensics, data analytics, and other emerging areas, he said.
No remuneration is involved in the tie-up. Metadata on cybercrimes and road traffic accidents is likely to be shared with the NIT-C without disclosing evidence or any aspects prejudicial to investigation or trial for research purpose. An agreement for non-disclosure of confidential data will also be signed.
Under the agreement, the NIT-C and Cyberdome will designate a primary and secondary point of contact prior to the commencement of any work. The Cyberdome will be solely responsible for data entry, operations and maintenance of systems and work products. Similarly, the NIT-C will not identify, address or correct any errors or defects in the Cyberdome’s computer systems or other devices without the approval of the designated Cyberdome official for security reasons.
According to Cyberdome officials, the Inspector General of Police (Cyber Operations) and the Chairperson of the Centre For Information Technology Research and Automation will be the nodal officers for the Police Cyberdome and the NIT-C respectively. Considering the scope of work envisaged under the MoU, the confidentiality of information concerning both parties is of critical importance and its exchange with any third party without written consent has been prohibited.
