Security challenges have evolved from 'dynamite to metaverse' and 'hawala to cryptocurrency': Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the evolution of conventional security challenges from "dynamite to metaverse" and "hawala to cryptocurrency" is a matter of concern, as he urged the G20 countries to fight the cyber criminal criminals by rising above conventional boundaries.

With technology breaching conventional, geographical, political and financial borders, he said solitary efforts would not help in tackling the menace and advocated the need for uniformity in laws of all countries, developing a response mechanism under different laws of the countries, harmonising benchmarks, best practices and regulations, and greater coordination among cyber agencies across the world.

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Addressing the G20 conference on 'Crime and Security in the Age of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Metaverse' in Haryana's Gurugram, he acknowledged that technology has transcended all conventional geographical, political and economic boundaries and the world has turned into a "big global digital village".

Emphasising that some anti-social elements and global forces, that are using technology to cause economic and social harm to citizens and governments, he said the G20 has so far focused on digital transformation and data flow from an economic perspective, but now it is very important to understand the aspects of crime and security and find a solution.

"Cyber security has become an essential aspect of global security that requires adequate attention to its economic and geo-political implications. It is essential to strengthen the capabilities of nations and international organisations to deal with new and emerging, traditional and non-traditional challenges, including terrorism, terror financing, radicalization, narco, narco-terror links, and misinformation in a better way," he said.

"The transformation of our conventional security challenges from ‘dynamite to metaverse’ and ‘hawala to cryptocurrency’ is a matter of concern for the countries of the world. And all of us, together, have to devise a common strategy against it," he said.

Underlining the threats from criminals using darknet, metaverse, deep fakes and ransomware, Shah warned that online scams, hacking and other cyber crimes will increase in the future. He said new technology is being used by terror networks to radicalise and recruit youth as well as raising finances.

"Virtual assets are being used. Radical materials are designed to attract the weak links. Dark net is being used for this and we need to understand how it works and tackle it. Metaverse was science fiction for us in the past but now it has become real. Metaverse is being used by terror networks for spreading ideology, recruitment and training," he said.

"New methods in the form of virtual assets are being used by terrorists for financial transactions. Terrorists are using the dark-net to hide their identity and spread radical material. We have to understand the pattern of these activities running on the dark-net, and find solutions for the same. To create a robust and efficient operational system, we need to think coherently to crack down on the use of various virtual assets," he said.

Warning that the Metaverse, "once a science fiction idea", has now stepped into the real world, he said it may create new opportunities for terrorist organisations primarily for propaganda, recruitment, and training. This will make it easier for terrorist organisations to select and target vulnerable people and prepare material according to their vulnerabilities, he said.

"The metaverse also creates opportunities for true imitation of a user's identity, known as 'deep-fakes'. Using better biometric information about individuals, criminals will be able to impersonate users and steal their identities," he said.