Security & Cyber-Crime
Government to sniff your emails
September 22, 2008, Daily News and Analysis
The recent terror attacks in various parts of the country during which terrorists allegedly hacked into wireless networks to send emails warning of imminent attacks has prompted the central government to consider monitoring e-mails on a full time basis. For this, the government has decided to install specialised software to check the content of e-mails which flow over four or five major ISPs.
Govt may keep an eye on emails from abroad
26 June 2008, The Economic Times
The Internet has thrown up new challenges to the government in terms of information security. The recent acts of defacement of websites as well as intrusions via the web has led to steps by the Department of Information Technology in India. These include a proposal to scan emails coming to India from abroad as well as setting up secure infrastructure for the hosting of government websites.
Government may soon find BlackBerry solution
May 16, 2008, Kalyan Parbat and Joji Thomas Philip, The Economic Times
This news report talks about the recent developments in the controversy over monitoring Blackberry traffic in India. It started when the Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) that owns Blackberry services in India, refused to share the decryption code with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This had raised security concerns since the security agencies could not monitor the data that were being sent due to the high encryption codes.
One held for posting obscene Orkut message on Sonia
May 18, 2008, The Times of India
This news story is about an IT professional who was arrested on charges of posting derogatory comments on Sonia Gandhi, the chief of the Congress party, on a community named 'I hate Soniya Gandhi' on Orkut, the popular social networking site. The police traced the person through the IP address as well as the user information provided in the e-mail by which the comment was posted. The interesting part, however, is that the owner of the community has not been charged.
DoT asks RIM to set up server in India
March 29, 2008, Thomas K Thomas, The Hindu Business Line
This news report talks about the controversy over monitoring Blackberry-to-Blackberry traffic in India. It started when Research in Motion, the Canadian company that owns Blackberry services, refused to share the decryption code with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on grounds that it is proprietary.
IP address can mislead in online crime
January 19, 2008, Indiatimes Infotech
This news item reports the sad case of a software professional who was wrongly convicted on charges that he uploaded offensive pictures of Shivaji on Orkut. The mistake, it is assumed, was done by making incorrect inferences on the IP addresses given to the police during investigation by the Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Bangalore major link for web crime
February 5, 2008,Deccan Herald
This news story observes that Bangalore has become an important link in the cyber crime chain. It quotes experts as saying that cyber criminals use sophisticated, professionally developed tool-kits sold in the underground economy to carry out attacks.
Intermediary liability and the future of the Internet in India
October 14, 2007, Rishi Jaitly, Google Public Policy Blog
The author examines the issue of intermediary liability in the Internet world and presents his viewpoint on the Government of India's take on the same. Internet content reaches the end consumer through a variety of intermediaries such as ISPs, search engines, email services etc.
Online? Beware, you are under watch
October 24, 2007, Indiatimes Infotech
Online crime is on the rise, not only affecting developed nations but also increasingly becoming a problem in developing countries. Many Indian netizens, especially those in the young population, are unaware of the risks of being online, even though more users are becoming targets without knowing it. The article warns of the dangers of online crime, which affects everyone from teens on social networking sites to consumers and businesses carrying out e-commerce transactions.
India ranks 14th in phishing attacks
August 26, 2007, Pritha Roy Choudhury, Merinews
The article reviews the proceedings of the recent Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) workshop which analysed the major issues regarding the degree of control that should be exercised on the Internet. Cyber crime has assumed significant proportions in India as exemplified by the fact that India is now a major target for phishing attacks.
