City’ cyber crime station to seek ethical hackers’ help to crack cases; internet parlours must maintain users register.

Who better than a burglar to help you master the art of burglary? So think our police too, when it comes to learning about ‘cyber policing’.

India’s first exclusive cyber police station at CoD office in the City is all set to hire some ‘ethical hackers’ to crack cyber crimes involving techno-literate offenders.

The department also plans to maintain a register at cyber crime police station, whereby the ‘ethical hackers’ or ‘experts’ – willing to help the police – could register their names, according to CoD sources.

“Once the name of a ethical hacker or expert is registered, their assistance would be sought whenever the need arises. Depending on the services they provide, rewards up to a maximum of Rs 50,000 per case will be given” sources said.

An official, quoting experts, said there are two type of hackers: White Hat Hackers or ethical hackers, who help companies adopt safety measures to prevent hacking. ‘Black Hat Hackers’, who tamper or steal information.

The department would seek the services of white-hat hackers, who can accompany police officials during raids, if any during the course of the investigation.

“Cyber criminals commit crimes in a very sophisticated manner. Police officials could unwittingly erase evidence by pressing the wrong keys. This is where the experts come into the picture,” the official said.

The station is also seeking technical assistance from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and IT giants Infosys and Wipro. The Cyber Cell in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Asian School of Cyber Laws, Pune, have also assisted the Centre by providing training to the staff.

Meanwhile, cyber centers in the State have been asked to maintain a internet users register to help identify persons who use such centers for their hacking activities or indulging in other cyber crimes.

“Internet centers are vulnerable. Persons could tamper with information in any part of the world from such centers. In case a complaint is registered, cyber crime police station officials would raid the center and seize all computers. To avoid this, the centers must maintain a register of users. They should also demand authentic identification before all owing the use of a computer,” an official said.

“If officials find out that a particular computer has been used for committing the crime, then that alone would be seized for investigations,” the official said.

Computers at internet centers can be used for: creating and distributing viruses, stealing internet time, hacking, espionage, manipulation of computer systems and financial frauds.

Mallikarjuna Kharge inaugurated the cyber crime police station on Aug 30. during the inauguration, Director General and Inspector General of Police V V Bhaskar had at the time of inaugurating the cyber crime station termed cyber crime as ‘crime of the future’.

The station has four officials in the ranks of Dy SP and four Inspectors besides other staff, and its jurisdiction extends to the entire State.