A high-end cyber crime lab, which will have all the facilities to detect various types of cyber crimes and will also have components of cyber forensic, will come up in the city soon, Director General of Police N. Sambasiva Rao said here on Monday.
The DGP was here to inaugurate a seven-day workshop on cyber security and ethical hacking, being organised by the Department of Computer Science and Systems Engineering, Andhra University College of Engineering.
Speaking to media persons after the inaugural programme, the DGP said post demonetisation the entire country was moving towards cash-less transactions and this will increase the use of e-machines and online transactions.
“This will increase the scope of cyber crime and we have to gear up for that,” he said.
According to him, the lab will be attached to the Cyber Crime Police Station and the government is willing to earmark Rs. 20 crore to 30 crore for the state-of-the-art lab. This will be the only lab in the State and will cater to all the other districts, he said.
Mr. Sambasiva Rao said cyber crime was a new form of crime and the present police force is not trained to investigate or deal with it. “Even top-notch corporate companies are unable to deal with it.
On an average it is only after 210 days that most companies understand that their networking has been hacked by hackers. In such a scenario we are far behind,” he said.
“We have about 65,000-strong police force, but I doubt whether at least one per cent is aware of cyber crime”, he added.
“Along with the setting up of the cyber crime police station and the lab, we need to train the manpower and for which we have approached the IT experts from Andhra University to support us,” he said.
Comprehensive campaign
He also said the police department was working on a comprehensive campaign to educate the general public on various forms of cyber crime and how to stay away from the criminals.
On why Visakhapatnam was the chosen locating the lab, Mr. Sambasiva Rao said the city has been recording the highest number of cyber crimes which includes phishing, vishing, online card fraud and hacking in the state, and that there is a need to start the lab here.
As per the records, in 2015 the total number of cases stood at 267 and this year it has already touched the 250 mark. This is the highest figure, compared to the other districts, he said.
According to the DGP, the AP police were moving towards digital surveillance and digital crime detection in a big way. Focus was not only on CCTV coverage in major cities but also on digitisation of fingerprints and facial recognition system, he said.
Principal of AUCOE P.S. Avadhani, HoD of Computer Science Department P.V.G.D Prasad Reddy, Members of Executive Council G. Sashibushana Rao and Suresh Chittineni, vice-president of Capgemini Ajay Reddy Velampudi and resource person Mahesh Rakheja, spoke at the inaugural session of the workshop.
Visits Coast Guard headquarters
Mr. Sambasiva Rao visited the Coast Guard headquarters in Visakhapatnam on Monday.
He reviewed the coastal security and infrastructure development and stressed upon the need for a coordinated approach between various security agencies.
Commissioner of Police T. Yoganand, IG of Coastal Security Police G. Surya Prakash Rao, DIG of Coast Guard A.K. Harbola and other senior officers were present.
