The sun beats down intensely on green millet fields in Kadiri taluka, Andhra Pradesh, the ‘Sunrise State’. Lakshmi (name changed for privacy), a member of a village SHG (Self-Help Group), sits on a brightly coloured woven floor mat in the white-washed community kitchen where her group makes healthy millet snacks and packages them to be shipped to urban consumers in Bangalore, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and beyond. In her lap rests a mobile phone, its screen glowing faintly.
She tells me about the first time she used digital payments through India’s UPI network. “My fingers were shaking,” she recalls. “What if someone stole my money? I didn’t understand the messages that came to my phone.” Around her, her fellow SHG members laugh and agree, as they continue to shape millet flour, ghee, jaggery and nuts into evenly sized laddoos. Even as the hum of daily life continues, for Lakshmi and others like her, that small screen represents both opportunity and risk.
Across India’s villages, women are stepping into the digital world: selling their products and produce through WhatsApp groups, accessing government schemes online, and making and receiving payments through mobile wallets. Yet, their trust in technology is fragile, often shaken by fraud calls, phishing messages, or identity theft. Stories of PAN (Income Tax ID) numbers being misused and bank accounts being emptied are warning whispers circulating among the women gathered in the community kitchen and the Panchayat (village council) centre.
When trust meets technology
In Nalanda, Bihar, the rhythmic click-clack of a handloom resonates through the family home of Amrit and Geeta Devi (names changed for privacy). The husband and wife take turns weaving Bawan Buti saris, a traditional handloom cotton saree characterised by 52 (bawan) woven motifs (buti). Geeta’s shy smile radiates warmth even through the camera lens of the smartphone she is holding up to join a video conference call along with a group of village women entrepreneurs from across Bihar.
“A man messaged me, saying I could get a subsidy if I shared my Aadhaar (India’s National ID) details. I almost believed him. But I remembered what we learned in our training session before. ‘Never share personal information and ID details with strangers!’ I deleted the message and blocked the number.”
That action may have saved her livelihood. Geeta had attended sessions on using digital tools like WhatsApp for Business, UPI, and more along with the other women entrepreneurs in the cohort. With the support of their local Panchayat Mukhiyas (leaders), women were trained to use the mobiles safely, recognise fraud, and secure their finances. “I protected my family and my business”, she says, with deserved pride.
Her SHG coordinator, Rekha Devi (name changed), also an entrepreneur, adds: “We learned that our phone is like our home. We wouldn’t leave our door unlocked at night. In the same way, we shouldn’t leave our phone open to anyone.”
Also Read: Cybersecurity is not an IT problem: It is a trust architecture crisis
Digital access to safety tools
Back in Andhra Pradesh, women like Lakshmi increasingly face cyber harassment and threatening messages from unknown numbers. In the past, most stayed silent, too afraid to approach the police. But now, many in her village know about the mobile citizen services and the Suraksha app, launched by the state government.
Cyber awareness campaigns are conducted in the district by the police, local authorities, volunteers and NGOs. Chandra (name changed), a volunteer with a local NGO, says, “We go to villages and tell women: if you face fraud, don’t be silent. Report it. The system is here to protect you.”
Grassroots trust networks
In Bihar, local government facilities often double as classrooms. At a Didi Adhikaar Kendra (a one-stop support centre for women) in Muzzafarpur district, women gather with notebooks and phones, listening intently as one of their own, trained in cyber safety, explains how to spot suspicious links.
In Andhra Pradesh, SHG women act as intermediaries, translating technical advice into simple, local language instructions. “We don’t say ‘phishing’ or ‘malware,’” says Seeta, a high school graduate and active SHG member in Telugu, the local language. “We say, ‘Don’t click on strange messages.’ That is easier for people to understand.”
Lakshmi adds, “When women teach each other, it’s very helpful. We believe advice more when it comes from someone we know.”
Trust grows when women see familiar faces like neighbours, local officials, and fellow SHG members leading the way. It transforms cybersecurity from a distant concept into a living reality.
Also Read: Cybersecurity: The evolution from digital safeguard to economic governance
Lessons for the future
- Cybersecurity is empowerment: For women like Geeta and Lakshmi, digital safety is not just about avoiding fraud; it is about protecting livelihoods and personal dignity.
- Trust is community-led: Programs succeed when they embed cybersecurity into community structures, not just individual training.
- Policy meets practice: Andhra Pradesh’s institutional support and Bihar’s grassroots training together show emerging holistic models, where top-down infrastructure is paired with bottom-up empowerment.
Cybersecurity and digital trust are not only technical issues, but they are also deeply human. For women at the bottom of the economic pyramid, trust in digital tools can unlock new opportunities, strengthen livelihoods, and foster confidence in the digital future.
Protecting them from cyber risks ensures that digital inclusion becomes a pathway to empowerment, not vulnerability. We must all recognise that Cybersecurity may start with protecting data, but it ends up protecting dreams. For millions of women in India’s villages, those dreams deserve to be safe.
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