This college kid is police’s go-to guy to fight cyber criminals
JAIPUR: A self-trained ‘ethical hacker’, Gautam Kumawat doesn’t fit the conventional description of a sleuth.
But this 20-year-old college student from Jaipur has been instrumental in helping the Rajasthan police solve a number of cyber crime cases.
An ethical hacker, as Kumawat likes to call himself, is a person who hacks into a computer network in order to test or evaluate its security, rather than with malicious or criminal intent.
“Computer hacking has interested me right from the time when I was 10-12 years old. It started off on a whim as I stumbled upon some information about hacking on the internet, but soon learning more about information security became my obsession,” says Kumawat, whose family originally hails from a village in Pilani district.
He shares how easily, and with minimal research, he GAUTAM KUMAWAT, self-trained ethical hacker was able to access the internet for free using a proxy server on his phone.
“It was then that I realised how vulnerable we are to hacker attacks,” he says.
By the time he was 17, Kumawat was already visiting police stations with a borrowed laptop to train officers for free and also to spread awareness about the threat of cyber criminals.
“Gradually the police started to contact me for suggestions in solving cases of cyber crimes,” he says. “I try to help by informing them about the various technical details and the counter measures that could be taken to solve the cases.”
Most of the cases that come Kumawat’s way relate to fake calls made through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and misuse of Facebook accounts.
In many instances, the callers claim to be working for banks and ask people to divulge details about their accounts.
The information is later used to withdraw large sums of money from the accounts of these unsuspecting victims.
“Recently, a case was registered in our police station wherein miscreants were trying to harass a girl by creating a fake Facebook profile of her. Gautam’s help was very helpful since with his inputs, we managed to solve the case,” said Sunil Choudhary, station house officer, Osian police station in Jodhpur district.
Kumawat, who is currently pursuing BCA and teaches ethical hacking at a private institute, says that nowadays it is very easy for hackers to access private information. He shows his own profile picture on Facebook, which has nearly 3,000 likes.
“One just needs to develop an app in order to manipulate the number of likes on Facebook,” reveals Kumawat, with an impish smile.
At this time of technological boom, miscreants are always on the prowl to use new techniques to break and evade the law.
“That’s why the techsavvy youth has a significant role to play,” says deputy police superintendent Rajendra Sharma, in-charge of cyber crime police station, Jaipur.
“We are open to suggestions and help in the cases since such technical information could highlight some yet unexplored facets of cyber crime investigation.”
It is very easy for hackers to access private information... One just needs to develop an app in order to manipulate the number of likes on Facebook