CENTRE TO TRAIN 37,000 COPS TO IDENTIFY, PROBE CYBER CRIMES

NEWDELHI: The Union home ministry has decided to train more than 37,000 police and law enforcement officers in the country in ways to identify and investigate a range of cyber attacks, including the widely known “Nigerian Prince” scam to the more obscure “salami slicing” attacks.

The decision comes months after ransomware attacks wreaked havoc across the world, including in India where businessmen are believed to have paid hundreds of dollars to retrieve crucial records locked by suspected hackers.

It is “imperative for the law enforcement agencies to have an in-depth understanding of the working of the cyber domain and the modus operandi of crimes committed therein,” the MHA advisory issued to state governments earlier this month said.

“This understanding cannot be limited to a few specialist investigative officers but is a must for all police officers, especially those who are first responders to victims of crime and recording them”.

Cyber crimes are usually investigated by designated cells, which are often few and far in between in smaller towns and districts. The training will likely focus on the many lesser known web-based crimes, an MHA official said.

A salami attack, for instance, involves a stealing data or funds from a victim in small volumes so that detection is harder. Other types include identity theft, distributed denial of service (DDOS) and keylogger-based attacks.

The official said the training would cover 60 types of cyber crimes and the programme was launched in view of the rising threats that people now face from “computer oriented criminals and syndicates”.