TLDR: India’s Union Ministry of Home Affairs is training specialized ‘cyber commandos’ at the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) to counter the rising tide of AI-driven cybercrimes, including deepfakes and advanced phishing. This initiative aims to equip law enforcement with the skills to identify, intercept, and neutralize sophisticated digital threats, as AI is now implicated in a significant majority of cyberattacks.
Pune, India – In a strategic move to fortify its digital defenses against an evolving landscape of cyber threats, India’s Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has initiated a specialized training program for ‘cyber commandos’. These elite units are being prepared to effectively identify, intercept, and neutralize cyber offenses increasingly driven by artificial intelligence.
The training, which has commenced at the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT) in Pune, a deemed university under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is a direct response to the growing sophistication of cybercriminals leveraging AI for their attacks. Manisha Nene, head of the computer science department at DIAT, emphasized the urgency of this adaptation, stating, ‘As cybercrimes rapidly evolve due to integration of advanced AI tools in criminal activities, we have updated the syllabus for our training programme. We will train them on how to investigate these AI tools used in criminal cases.’
The comprehensive six-month course is designed to cover a wide spectrum of AI-powered cybercrimes. This includes combating AI-generated deepfakes, automated phishing campaigns, identity spoofing, algorithmic attacks on critical infrastructure, and real-time manipulation of data streams. The curriculum’s update reflects the dynamic nature of cyber threats, ensuring that the commandos are equipped with the most current knowledge and techniques.
Law enforcement personnel, including officers from the Maharashtra Police, are part of the batches undergoing this crucial training. The program has already seen success, with a first batch of 30 cyber commandos having completed the course in May. These trained personnel, particularly from the Jammu and Kashmir Police, demonstrated their effectiveness during ‘Operation Sindoor,’ where their newly acquired skills played a pivotal role.
The necessity for such specialized training is underscored by alarming statistics. According to ‘The State of AI-Powered Cybercrime: Threat & Mitigation Report 2025,’ recently released by the Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management (GIREM) in Bengaluru, AI tools are implicated in approximately 82.6% of all phishing emails. The report highlights how AI is not only used to generate realistic email text but also to create convincing dashboards, register typo-squatting domains, and develop dynamic, interactive phishing pages, significantly enhancing the efficacy of malicious campaigns.
Sanjay Shintre, Deputy Inspector General of the Maharashtra Cyber Cell, acknowledged the complexity of these modern threats. ‘The use of AI tools is significant in several cyber cases, and it is often complicated to address these issues at the police station level. Therefore, the role of highly trained police personnel is crucial. These trained cyber commandos will become valuable assets for the force in tackling advanced cybercrimes,’ Shintre stated. He also noted a challenge in the selection process, as very few personnel from the Maharashtra Police were able to pass the entrance examination for the course due to a lack of theoretical knowledge, highlighting the need for foundational cyber education within the force.
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This initiative marks a significant step in India’s commitment to bolstering its cybersecurity infrastructure and protecting its digital ecosystem from the sophisticated and rapidly evolving threats posed by AI-driven criminal activities.
