HP sets up first cyber police station in Shimla

SHIMLA: Aimed at tackling cyber crime in Himachal Pradesh, the government has set up first cyber police station here.

The police station has the statewide jurisdiction and cases relating cybercrime will be sent here for investigation. The government has sanctioned staff for the police station, headed by deputy superintendent of police (DSP) rank officer.

In Himachal, cases of online fraud top the cyber crime list. Chief minister Virbhadra Singh, in his budget speech, had announced to set up cyber police station in the state. Himachal has significant number of population internet simultaneously the risk of cyber crime also rise.

As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data, overall internet penetration in the country is about 28%, but northern states including, Himachal, has better picture. Almost every third person in Himachal is connected to internet and majority of them are using mobile banking services. In Himachal, most of cyber crime cases are relating lottery fraud, ATM fraud, followed by social networking site hacking. Since the e-governance trend is increasing rise in cyber crime cases is witnessed. Cases of website defacement are on rise across the country over the years from 1,529 in 2004 to 24,216 in 2013.

As per government records, over 15,490 websites with ‘.in’ domain names were defaced in 2013, while sites with ‘.net’ domain names were defaced less as only 352 cases were surfaced.