Which of the following statements is/are correct about KAVACH-2023? 1. It is a joint coordination committee of all three wings of India's armed forces to protect India's borders. 2. It is India's national level hackathon jointly launched by AICTE and BPRD to tackle cyber threats. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — B, 2 only. KAVACH-2023 is a hackathon, not a military body. The Ministry of Education's own announcement of 16 February 2023 describes it as a national hackathon jointly conducted by the Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell, AICTE, the Bureau of Police Research and Development under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, to find technological solutions to the cyber security and cybercrime challenges faced by law enforcement agencies and ordinary citizens. That is statement 2, which names AICTE and BPR&D exactly. Statement 1 invents something that does not exist: there is no tri-service coordination committee of that name. India's inter-service integration runs through the Chief of Defence Staff and the Department of Military Affairs, while land-border guarding is a Ministry of Home Affairs responsibility discharged through the Central Armed Police Forces.
- (a)1 only — Backs the invented armed-forces committee and rejects the documented hackathon. The name is doing the work here — 'Kavach' means armour, which makes a defence body sound plausible.
- (c)Both 1 and 2 — Statement 2 is right but statement 1 describes an organisation that does not exist, so the pair cannot both stand.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects the hackathon, which was publicly launched with a 36-hour grand finale, eight problem-statement themes and ₹20 lakh in prize money.
KAVACH-2023 was a two-phase national cyber security hackathon. In the first phase, problem statements were opened to the public across themes such as fake news and social media, the dark web, women's safety, phishing detection, video analytics and CCTV, obscene content detection, spam alerts and malware analysis and digital forensics. Shortlisted teams then built solutions using artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning and allied technologies, and demonstrated them at a 36-hour grand finale.
The item works because of a genuine name collision, and knowing about it is the best defence against the distractor. 'Kavach' is also the name of India's indigenous Automatic Train Protection system, developed for Indian Railways to prevent signal-passing-at-danger and head-on collisions — an entirely separate use of the same word. The question then adds a third, fictitious Kavach in the armed-forces domain. Whenever a current-affairs name has more than one real referent, the safest approach is to fix the specific one that carries the year in its title, and KAVACH-2023 is the hackathon. The institutional detail is also worth carrying: the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and the Bureau of Police Research and Development both sit under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and cyber security items in this paper series lean heavily on that cluster along with CERT-In under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
- KAVACH-2023 was launched on 16 February 2023 as a national-level cyber security hackathon.
- It was conducted jointly by the Ministry of Education's Innovation Cell, AICTE, BPR&D (MHA) and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (MHA).
- It ran in two phases and ended in a 36-hour grand finale, with total prize money of ₹20 lakh.
- First-phase themes included fake news and social media, the dark web, women's safety, phishing detection, video analytics and CCTV, obscene content detection, spam alerts and malware analysis.
- 'Kavach' is also the name of Indian Railways' indigenous Automatic Train Protection system — a different thing entirely, and the reason this question is a trap.
The year in the title is the clue — KAVACH-2023 is the hackathon.
- Being led by the meaning of a Hindi name into assuming a defence context.
- Confusing the cyber security hackathon with the Railways' train protection system of the same name.
- Accepting an invented inter-service body because the description sounds administratively plausible.
Asked as a two-statement identification item on a scheme name, where one statement is accurate and the other invents a body in a different sector.
In India, it is legally mandatory for which of the following to report on cyber security incidents? 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
Answer(d) 1, 2 and 3
The statutory side of the same subject. Service providers, intermediaries, data centres and body corporates must all report cyber security incidents to CERT-In under the Information Technology Act framework — the legal architecture that a hackathon like this one is meant to feed with tools.
Consider the following statements with reference to the latest guidelines issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In): 1. Data centres and service providers shall compulsorily report cyber security breaches within 24 hours. 2. Virtual Private Network providers shall retain user data for at least five years and share records with authorities when required. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
CAPF's cyber security questions cluster around the same handful of institutions year after year, and this one turns on a number in the same way. Knowing which body issues which rule — CERT-In, I4C, BPR&D — is what both items reward.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) functions under which one of the following ministries?
- (a)Ministry of Home Affairs
- (b)Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- (c)Ministry of Defence
- (d)Ministry of Education
Answer(a) Ministry of Home Affairs — I4C and BPR&D both sit under the MHA, while CERT-In sits under MeitY.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Kavach, in the context of Indian Railways, refers to
- (a)a ticketing application
- (b)an automatic train protection system
- (c)a freight corridor project
- (d)a track-laying machine
Answer(b) an automatic train protection system — an indigenous system designed to prevent collisions and signal passing at danger.