Knowledge Nugget: Sanchar Saathi, SIM-Binding and India’s Cybersecurity push – What UPSC aspirants must know

Why in the news?

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Wednesday revoked its order directing phone makers to mandatorily pre-install the state-owned Sanchar Saathi application. The November 28 confidential order issued under the Telecommunication Cybersecurity Amendment Rules, 2025, directed Indian smartphone companies, including manufacturers and importers, to pre-install the state-developed cybersecurity application called Sanchar Saathi. This had sparked worries not just around potential surveillance by digital rights groups, but also around its impact on the businesses of big mobile phone makers.

Following an uproar, Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that the app is “optional” and that users can delete it, but that is not enough.

About Sanchar Saathi Application

Launched in January, the Sanchar Saathi app allows users to report suspected fraud communication and lost/stolen mobile phones, and check trusted contact details of banks/financial institutions.

The app does the following things:

* Allows tracking and blocking of lost or stolen phones anywhere in India, based on the IMEI of the phones.

* Gives users the option to block lost or stolen mobile phones

* Can assist police authorities in tracing stolen or lost devices, which can potentially prevent counterfeit phones from entering the black market.

* Chakshu option allows users to report suspected fraud communications via calls, SMS, or platforms like WhatsApp. However, it cautions that Chakshu can’t be used to report cybercrimes.

In today’s nugget, let’s understand the various initiatives taken by the government to address the rising cases of digital fraud in the country.

Key takeaways:

1. SIM Binding Rule: Recently, DoT has directed online messaging platforms to bar users from accessing their services without the SIM card used to register for the application. The department has said that the directive is a way to combat rising digital fraud in the country.

These directives were sent to companies like WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Arattai, Snapchat, Sharechat, Jiochat, and Josh. These platforms must now ensure that within 90 days, their services are “continuously” linked to the SIM card used to register with them. They must also disallow access if the SIM is not there in the device. In technical terms, this is called SIM binding. Associated web services of these platforms (like WhatsApp Web) “shall be logged out periodically” — not later than 6 hours.

2. Mobile Number Validation (MNV) platform: The DoT has updated the Telecommunication Cyber Security (TCS) Rules, 2024, through the Telecommunication Cyber Security (TCS) Amendment Rules, 2025 which formalised the Mobile Number Validation (MNV) platform. It aims to tackle identity fraud and the proliferation of “mule accounts” in financial and digital services. It provides a secure, decentralized, and privacy-conscious mechanism for service providers to confirm that a mobile number genuinely belongs to the user of a given service.

3. Mandatory scrubbing of IMEI in Resale devices: The amendment rules require entities dealing  in resale or refurbished devices to scrub every device’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number through a centralized database of blacklisted IMEIs before resale. It aims to protect buyers from inadvertently purchasing illegal or compromised devices and supports law enforcement in tracking stolen mobile equipment.

4. Telecom Identifier User Entity (TIUE): The DoT has included a new compliance category, Telecom Identifier User Entities (TIUEs) which include such entities that relies on telecom identifiers like mobile numbers, IP addresses, and IMEI number for authentication or providing services like banks, fintechs, e‑commerce platforms, and others. It mandates them to share telecom-indentifier data with the government to ensure greater transparency, accountability, and coordination in tackling cyber frauds.

5. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C): Launched in 2020, I4C aims to combat Cybercrime in the country and strengthen the overall security apparatus to fight against Cybercrime. In September 2024, four I4C platforms — Cyber Fraud Mitigation Centre (CFMC), the ‘Samanvaya’ platform, a Cyber Commandos programme and a Suspect Registry— were launched. It provides a framework for law enforcement agencies to deal with cybercrime in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

6. ‘bank.in’ domain for banks:  To combat the increasing number of digital payment frauds, in February this year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced an exclusive internet domain for Indian banks – ‘bank.in.’ This aims to minimise cyber security threats and strengthen trust in the country’s digital banking system.

7. New e-Zero FIR: I4C has introduced the new e-Zero FIR initiative to automatically convert cyber financial crime complaints with a cheating value above Rs 10 lakh, registered on the 1930 helpline or the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), into FIRs.

With the launch of the Digital India Mission and other initiatives, today, over 86 per cent of the Indian households are now connected to the internet. With this, there is also an increase in the cases of digital fraud and cyber crimes in the country. Here are the latest data on the increased cybercrimes in the country.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Rising Cyber fraud in the country

1. According to the latest data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), cybercrime in India saw a sharp surge of 31.2% in 2023, with fraud, extortion and sexual exploitation accounting for the majority of cases.

2. According to the report, ‘Crime in India’, the number of cases registered under the cybercrimes category rose to 86,420 in 2023 from 65,893 cases recorded in 2022. The crime rate under this category increased from 4.8% in 2022 to 6.2% in 2023.

3. According to the data compiled by the National Cyber Reporting Platform (NCRP), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, a massive surge in cybercrime incidents was reported in India with fraudsters cheating people of Rs 33,165 crore in the last four years, including Rs 22,812 crore in 2024.

4. The data shows fraudsters cheated people of Rs 551 crore in 2021, Rs 2,306 crore in 2022, and Rs 7,496 in 2023, with several Tier 2 and 3 cities identified as cybercrime hotspots.

5. The Kaspersky report released in February 2025, found that one in every three internet users in India were targeted by web-borne threats last year. Between January and December 2024, the company detected 4,43,72, 823 Internet-borne cyberthreats on computers of users in India.

Post Read Questions

(1) In India, it is legally mandatory for which of the following to report on cyber security incidents? (UPSC CSE 2017)

1. Service providers

2. Data centres

3. Body corporate

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 only

(b) 1 and 2 only

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3

(2) The terms ‘WannaCry, Petya and EternalBlue’ sometimes mentioned in the news recently are related to (UPSC CSE 2018)

(a) Exoplanets

(b) Cryptocurrency

(c) Cyber attacks

(d) Mini satellites

(Sources: NCRB report for 2023, Cyber frauds jump 900% in 4 years, Knowledge Nugget: What Digital Threat Report tells about cybersecurity, UPSC Issue at a Glance | India’s Cybercrime Challenge : Rise and Response, Digital Arrest, After surveillance uproar, Govt says users can delete Sanchar Saathi app, Sanchar Saathi optional, clarifies Scindia: Understanding key concerns around privacy, user data, https://dot.gov.in/)

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