Police get training to fight cyber crime

Mumbai: Cyber crime has soared, but its detection rate remains less than 35 per cent, said a Mumbai police source. 5,827 cases of cyber crime have been registered since January this year. New techniques have been introduced to tackle these problems, but no fruitful results were observed. The police personnel are now being trained to deal with the new types of viruses and cyber crimes.

Out of 5,827 cases registered between January 2017 and October 15, 2017, only 32 per cent which is 1,864 cases have been detected. To increase the detection rate, new advancements are kept in the pipeline.

The cases that are often registered include phishing, online fraud and cheating, stalking on social media, email abuse, hacking, copyright, etc.

When asked about the new technological advances that are in the pipeline, Akbar Pathan, deputy commissioner of police (Cyber) told The Asian Age, “The plans are kept secret, and officers too are tight-lipped as we do not want the cyber criminals to get a hint about it.”

The Maharashtra police is looking at three ways to curb cyber-crime. It plans to have a cyber police station and implement the Cyber Security Project (CSP) in the next four years. This is followed by cyber laboratories, equipped with high-end hardware and software tools, in each of the districts for digital forensic analysis. These labs will help collect evidence from mobile phones, CDs, Call Data Records (CDR) and social media.

Cyber expert Haren Das told The Asian Age, “The cyber police need to beef up and start recruiting more men at their service, only then is it possible to increase the detection rate.” The detection ratehas consistently remained below 35 per cent despite the advancements like firewalls and anti-virus installed on every personal computer and mobile devices that make various online transactions.

In a bid to tackle the digital crime with full force, Mumbai police has taken up an initiative to train its officers. In this initiative, around 20 police officers from Zone 10 of Mumbai police are obtaining training from the cyber experts stationed at Bandra Kurla Complex’s cyber cell.

The training spans for a week after which they will only be dedicated to register and investigate the cyber crimes said an officer on the condition of anonymity.

Recent incidents

Social media is challenging the capabilities of the Mumbai cyber police, which could not find ways to prevent the spread of ‘Blue Whale’ which is accessible through hashtags. Recently, a 23-year-old computer graphics student was arrested for exchanging pornographic pictures and videos with a minor girl. The man was booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences Act, and Information Technology Act. The game ‘Dare and Brave’, which is played between a close-knit group of youngsters by invitation only, has recently hit the Indian shores. It adds an new twist to the much popular old game of Truth and Dare. This newer version only includes the dare.