The Hindu : National : Cyber crime poses new challenges: Patil

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Thursday, Sep 13, 2007
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Cyber crime poses new challenges: Patil

Vinay Kumar

“Offences serious enough to capture the priority attention of lawmakers”

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

FIGHTING A NEW MENACE: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil with Interpol Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble at a conference on cyber crime in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Wednesday called for creating a culture of “cyber security awareness” and taking effective preventive measures.

The Minister argued in favour of giving “priority attention” by lawmakers and law enforcement agencies to the issue as the potential damage due to hacking, spoofing and botnet to the national security was immense.

“Globally, instances of money laundering through e-channels for terrorist funding have assumed menacing proportions. Internet is being used as a secure means for internal communication among terrorists and also for hate campaigns through social networking sites,” Mr. Patil said at the inaugural of the three-day seventh international conference on cyber crime, organised by the Interpol and hosted by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

“Notwithstanding its late entrance to the arena of serious crimes, cyber crime today represents a wide array of offences. Hacking, spoofing and botnet attacks are capable of causing serious security breaches in the information system of vital installations.”

Though India had developed a full-fledged indigenous cyber forensic software package, “we have a long way to go and are in the process of evolving systems and methodologies to stem the menace,” he said.

Cyber crime should capture the priority attention of lawmakers and members of the law enforcement agencies. Organised groups of criminals have found cyber space a lucrative means to generate huge proceeds of crime.

Online child pornography, trafficking in contraband items and e-commerce frauds were on the rise.

“Acts of vandalism and cheating are increasingly frustrating e-governance efforts. Needless to say, these offences are serious enough to capture the priority attention of lawmakers and members of the law enforcement agencies.”

Mr. Patil said cyber crime investigation was different and presented serious enforcement challenges.

It was the duty of all concerned to ensure that information technology gains were not nullified by a handful of criminals.

He called for quick responses to Interpol references and bilateral requests for information sharing, a liberal sharing of forensic technology, a cross-country training exchange programme and timely alerts by the affected countries to others regarding new forms of crime and new modus operandi.

Interpol Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble and CBI Director Vijay Shanker called for building consensus so that police were properly equipped and trained to prevent and investigate cyber crimes where criminals remain “faceless.”

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