In the wake of rising incidents of bank account hacking and data theft, a study by Assocham-Ernst and Young has suggested having a centralised database of cyber criminals to keep a check on and discourage cyber criminals.

"There is a need to establish a centralised repository for cybersecurity standards, best practices and guidelines, which can be used by law enforcement agency for preventing and investigating cybercrime," the joint study said.

A dedicated national governing unit may be established in India, which will be the central agency for all state government cybercrime agencies to coordinate, integrate and share information related to cybercrime, it said. 

Such a central agency will be responsible for driving all the cybercrime prevention initiatives, such as collaboration with private sectors, and training and awareness across the country.

"The government should provide well defined citizen awareness programmes aimed at preventing cybercrime as a proactive mitigation. This has to be achieved through multiple media, such as print, radio and web to ensure faster and maximum reachability with local and national languages," it said.

Cybercrime awareness shall be introduced in academics in the early stages of education as a mandate for all the state and central, and public and private schools, adds the study. 

Releasing the joint study, D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, Assocham said, "Mechanisms shall be established for independent monitoring of awareness program at regular intervals to evaluate the number of people/regions covered. Awareness material shall be updated regularly to cover up-to-date information." 

"In order to increase the rate of reporting cybercrime, it is important to have provisions for online reporting of the crime. Using this system, an online cybercrime complaint can be made by the victims of cybercrime," it added. 

A centralised database of cybercriminals should be maintained so that the criminals released from jails may be monitored, the study said. 

"Such checks will discourage cybercriminals from engaging in spurious activities in cyberspace. Many countries, such as the USA and Australia have maintained a central repository of cybercriminals," noted the joint study.

India should be actively engaged as part of the international cybercrime associations centered on Asia/Europe and America to seek help and contribute for international cybercrime issues, Rawat said.