Data Theft Attempt leads to arrest of 1 person in Hyderabad
With India standing on the brink of a 3G data boom, Internet is at the cusp of becoming accessible to everyman’s pocket. The Internet has enabled entirely new forms of social interaction, business activities, and organizations, thanks to its basic features such as widespread usability and access.
While this 3G revolution is set to reduce remoteness and connect people across the globe, unhindered by physical proximity factors, the flipside is that Cyber Crime and criminal exploitation of the Internet are hitting all time highs with wrongful activities ranging across online identity fraud, phishing, denial-of-service attacks and data theft have reached alarming levels.
A recent episode of data theft illustrates how malicious and virulent this menace can become. One person by the name of “Rajesh”, operating from Hyderabad, offered to sell proprietary data of MagicBricks.com and software program that would copy all such exclusive data from MagicBricks.com illegally.
Times Business Solutions Ltd, a Times Group company, which owns the MagicBricks.com website, approached the Cyber Crime Cell of Hyderabad Police through Mr. Ranbir Singh, Head – Legal in connection with this matter.
Narrating the nefarious episode, the Legal Head remarked “We received information that a person named ‘Rajesh’ had sent mass sms to all account holders of MagicBricks.com asking them to purchase leads from him, rather than buying them officially from MagicBricks.com.
This person also professed to have developed a software which could copy data from MagicBricks.com and was offering to sell the same to our customers at a paltry Rs. 5,000/-.
We had a decoy customer speak to Rajesh on the mobile number he had provided in his sms and managed to obtain the software from him, alongwith a demo of how the software runs. We videotaped the demo and recorded all phone conversations with him.
Thereafter, we undertook Stern Measures lodging a complaint with the cyber cell of the Hyderabad police, and provided them with all the evidence we had collected. As a result, the police registered the FIR quickly and efficiently swung into action, and we had the accused behind bars in record time.”
DSP Mr. T. Lakshmi Narasaiah (IO) of the Cyber Cell, under guidance of the IG Mr K. Satyanarayana Rao and instructions from the Addl. DGP (CID, Hyderabad) Mr. A Siva Narayana, established the whereabouts of Rajesh through his cell phone, procured his photograph from bank records and was able to apprehend him very swiftly. The police have also seized the computer belonging to him and are investigating further. The possibility of others being involved is currently under investigation, and Strong Actions will be taken against all perpetrators.
With the advent of the 21st century, a whole generation is experiencing the widespread availability of the Internet, bringing connectivity and opportunities that were unimaginable for earlier generations. However, these “netizens” have to face a variety of challenges today that earlier generations did not have to face. Cyber crime has assumed rather sinister implications. It is heartening that the Indian Police Cyber Crime cell is there to serve & protect victims of such crimes.