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Article on Hacking published in the ezine “PreSense” Jan 2020 “Hacking Article”

pictureHacking all of us know is an offense punishable by law, since by the very definition and meaning is involved accessing the computer resources of somebody else, then how can there be something called ethical hacking?
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pictureMy views about the Supreme Court Judgement on 24 March holding the Section 66A of the IT Amendment Act 2008 as ‘unconstitutional’ is that a powerful tool in the hands of cyber crime sleuths has now been lost. Read on for the full story…

pictureAbsence of Moral Education or a session for Ethical Values in the time-table especially in Secondary or Higher Secondary Level takes its toll. Students and the educational institutions in general these days are particular about more and more marks, which alone has become the criterion. Bringing up culturally well-behaved, ethically stronger and well-behaved youth is not in the agenda of educational institutions. This was the crux of my interview on being questioned why the number of graduates (ie educated ones) is on the increase among convicts this year. Excerpts from the Indian Express dated 1 Nov 2014.

pictureOf late, fraudsters innovate in learning about technology and finding newer techniques in committing crimes. It is difficult for the investigating agencies to keep pace with them and learn the same at the same pace and of course, equally difficult for the victims, for the legal fraternity and the judiciary who are all the other stake holders in crime investigation. Among the latest is IMEI Number faking in mobile handsets with a view to make them untraceable. Such faking (as a hardware chip-level embedded technology) is certainly an offence, no doubt. Times of India carried an interesting story on this. Click to view My interview in Times of India 7 Nov 2014.

pictureIt is heartening to read that the National Cyber Security Co-ordination Centre will be in place shortly. An apex level Monitoring Agency with all information! Oh, this has been the dream of every concerned Indian. Security professionals in India have often felt that cyber security has not been given the due place it deserves.

There are agencies, ministries, departments and government bodies (like NTRO, CBI, State Police departments, IB, RAW, Intelligence, Defence and Home Minsitries besides the PMO itself) who often acquire lots of critical information on cyber security of national importance (sometimes from across the cyber boundaries and often from within the nation itself). Cyber Criminals take advantage of the disconnect and the absence of sharing of critical information among these departments. It is already late. As top priority, at the apex level this NCSC should be in place with some sort of control at least for sharing of information among all the stake holders including the state police and all investigating agencies.14 Sep 2014.

Pornographic Sites and Cyber Crimes

Pornographic Sites and Cyber Crimes

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Of late, it is quite depressing to note that pornographic sites are on the increase. Whatever be the complaints against them and the efforts taken by the government, it is becoming difficult to curb the menace completely. The filtering of pornographic sites poses a technical challenge. These websites keep on changing the names, domain addresses and hosting platforms from time to time making it difficult to filter or block such websites. Unfortunately majority of these sites are hosted outside India. Software tools used for blocking are not of much help either. Sometimes they act block some genuine content or slow down the systems.

It is heartening to note that government is aware of the issue and concerns are being expressed at various quarters in the subject. On 12 Aug 2011, Shri Sachin Pilot, the Minister of State Communication and Information Technology, Government of India, in response to a question in Rajya Sabha reportedly gave information about the relevant sections of I.T. Act as amended by I.T.AA s008 (the popular Sections 67, 67A and 67 B) and added that legal framework in the country is adequate enough to tackle the problem. But the question is CERT-In is the empowered body to take action on these complaints. CERT-In does not adequate man-power and does not have the publicity material to make its efforts and to show its strength to the public, especially the wrong-doers and the misguided and misadventurous who port materials in such web-sites or help such web-sites. The Hon’ble Minister could have added these points also in his reply emphasizing that CERT-In coming under Dept of I.T. under the Ministry of I.T.will take steps whenever any complaint is received by it. Such a statement when it comes from the Minister himself will deter those in the ‘trade’ of porting such lascivious material in such objectionable sites.

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•  Workshop on Cyber Crimes planned by CySI.

•  Times of India Chennai Edition carries a big story under the caption: “Honing the Sleuths” In this descriptive article the story focusses on the contents of M.Sc. Cyber Foresnsics and M.S. Criminology courses of Madras University. In the just concluded academic year, this course has witnessed 100% placement thanks to the tremendous employment potential for those with a knowledge of computer security and the subject of criminology. As a Guest Faculty in this course, views of V Rajendran have appeared in Times of India 7