The country’s youngest ethical hacker Ankit Fadia on Tuesday raised questions about the government’s awareness on cyber security lapses, especially on official websites that contain sensitive information.
Fadia, who is in the city for a seminar, pointed out that the cyber crime is growing enormously. “The cyber crime industry is growing enormously and there is an immediate need to secure data online, be it the government, corporate or even personal data,” he said. He added that ethical hacking is a sustainable profession today and anyone can become a certified ethical hacker.
“Password cracking, call spoofing, passive fingerprinting, IP spoofing, SMS spoofing, mobile phone spying, ATM machine hacking, bluesnarfing, WiFi password cracking are just a few forms of cyber crime that are prominent in the country. They amount to huge losses and sometimes, the lack of security online can lead to a criminal compromising an account/website to use the sensitive information available online,” he stated.
Fadia, who works as an advisor to National Cyber Cell and National Police Academy (Hyderabad), stressed on the national security perspective and said, “The government needs to take cyber security seriously. The Bhaba Atomic Research Centre which was hacked by a Pakistani national about six years ago should have raised the alarm bells.”
He said the police department in the country is not trained enough to handle a case of cyber crime. He said he is now working with the National Police Academy to bring in more reforms in the selection process.