Haryana sets up forensic lab to track social media content

The Haryana government has set up its first Digital Investigation, Training and Analysis Centre (DITAC) in Gurugram (Gurgoan) which will focus exclusively on social media content and keep watch on the posts that are incendiary and inciting in nature. According to the government, the lab has been set up to track the source of inflammatory or illegal posts on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among others. This step is expected to boost cyber policing in Haryana. The government was feeling the need of the center after the riots earlier this year.

The centre, as claims the government, is equipped with state-of-art cyber forensic laboratory and high-tech training facilities to train police officers in handling cyber crimes. First of a kind in India, the center is expected to help the government build skills in handling cyber crime cases which are constantly increasing at a rapid pace in the state and the country.  Other states can also join the race by setting up similar centres and equip their police force with best in class cyber security skills which are required to keep watch on the unwanted elements, especially during the sensitive times.

The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), with which the state government has signed up an MoU, has helped the state government to build this centre which would be handled by Haryana CB-CID.