Cocon 2018, an annual two-day international cybersecurity conference, got under way at Hotel Grand Hyatt here on Friday even as Inkar Sabot, a robot, hogged the limelight during the inaugural session. The robot was made to inaugurate the conference to draw attention to the growing significance of robotics and artificial intelligence in daily life.
Though it needed a bit of technical prompting initially, the robot managed to serve the purpose, which was to be the cynosure of all eyes as it declared the conference open in its accented English and went on to welcome the delegates.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera, who was the chief guest, said the Kerala Police Cyberdome was all set to infiltrate the darknet to curb criminal activities. He was hopeful of sharing with delegates the ways to crack the darknet during the next edition of Cocon. Mr. Behera urged other States to follow suit and organise their own editions of Cocon.
Growing in popularity
He recollected that the summit had grown in stature with the number of delegates rising from less than 200 in the first edition in 2007 to over 1,000 delegates from across the country for the latest edition.
In his welcome address, Manoj Abraham, Inspector General of Police, Nodal Officer, Cyberdome, observed that there was a paradigm shift in crime to the cyberworld. Interpol Liaison Officer Cecilia Wallin and Task Force Argos Detective Inspector John Rouse attended.
The meet is being organised by the Kerala Police, Information Security Research Association, and the Society for the Policing of Cyberspace in association with the Kerala State IT Mission, G-Tech and other agencies.