Cyber crime cell for ransomware cases soon

September 22, 2016 12:00 am | Updated November 01, 2016 08:11 pm IST - HYDERABAD

Cyber criminals lock consumers’ devices and demand ransom to send a code to ‘unlock’ them and access data

: The city which has the distinction of being a software hub and has a significant chunk of IT professionals, may soon need to establish a Cyber Crime Cell to exclusively handle cases of ransomware cases.

The term ransomware in the IT space refers to cyber criminals locking consumers’ devices - from desktops, laptops, tablets, mobiles and more recently, wearables paired with smartphones, using unbreakable encryption on users’ files. The criminals then demand ransom to send a code to the user to ‘unlock’ his own device and access his own data.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Cyber Crimes) here, K.C.S. Raghuvir said as far as ransomware was concerned, people were hesitant to complain and apprehensive as it involved talking about personal data - be it treasured family photos, tax returns and banking records or even their surfing pornographic sites, he said.

However, the police officer said that with cyber crimes in general on the rise and what with cases of ransomware infection cropping up in Hyderabad, he was sure a separate cell would be needed to tackle the problem. At an interaction organised by Symantec, its Country Manager Ritesh Chopra said while ransomware cases across the world were pegged at about 1.2 lakh in 2014-15, the past 12 months had seen it achieve new levels of maturity and menace.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.