BENGALURU: With a spike in the number of cases involving online crime and zero convictions over the years, the eight Cyber Crime, Economic Offences and Narcotics (CEN) police stations that opened in the city in December have become more relevant. These stations were added because the lone Cyber Crime Police Station (CCPS) was unable to handle the growing number of cases. In fact, the CCPS was unable to add new cases after it reached its limit. Each CEN station has a 2-4-member team.
Currently, the North Division of the city has the highest number of cases, followed by the Whitefield Division. “We are only working on investigating the pending cases at the CCPS. New cases are registered at the CEN stations,” said CCPS inspector Prashanth Babu. Cyber security expert and founder-chairman of Synergia Foundation, Tobby Simon, told The New Indian Express that there were two levels at which cyberattacks happen — at citizen level and corporate level.
“When people hear of cyber crime, they feel it is a technological attack. However, they don’t realise the human element involved. The issue is that cybercriminals cannot be physically tracked. Cyberattacks carry a 90% success rate,” he said. Currently, neither can an IT company nor can a police officer handle such cases. With zero convictions in the last two years, Simon said that social media crimes are easier to crack, but not the ones involving bank accounts. “The laws are poor as cyber crimes are very fast-paced,” he said.
“Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao had informed all police personnel to undergo training at the CID,” said DCP (Central) Chethan Singh Rathore.A senior police officer probing cyber crimes said, “The problem is that black hats (a hacker who violates computer security for personal gain or with malicious intent) are not even from Karnataka. They indulge in activities from other states, making it difficult for us to catch them. Once the case goes to court, it takes time.”