Hoax bomb threats are not new to India. But what we witnessed over the past three weeks appears to be an intensified “campaign” solely to spread fear among the people and disrupt life. It’s a shout-out to the relevant cyber agencies under the central and the state governments to up their antes to beef up surveillance. But one cannot deny it’s a huge challenge.
Across India, over 400 flights, railway stations, hotels, offices and even a temple have received hoax bomb threats in just over two weeks. This is an unprecedentedly sustained effort in demoralising the public and authorities, who are sent into a tizzy every time such a threat is received. The impact of such threats can be operational, financial and psychological, and can affect target organisations, communities and personnel even when no explosives are ultimately detected.
Yet, none of the threats can be ignored as a hoax without checking and confirming it. Assumptions can be disastrous in such cases. Unfortunately, the miscreants who perpetrate such acts are invariably at an advantage, especially because of their anonymity—so, cowardice wins.
Hoax bomb threats have evolved from the days of public call offices. Today, miscreants have become adept at using sophisticated means like the deep web or ‘ghost’ networks, which allow them to issue simultaneous threats to multiple destinations and leave the authorities barely any scope to trace them.
In the absence of adequate technologies to detect the sources of threats issued via social media or email, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued an advisory emphasising the responsibility of intermediaries, including social media platforms, to curb the spread of such hoaxes. The National Investigation Agency has deployed sleuths from its cyber wing at each major aviation facility to tackle the threats as first responders.
Although a 34-year-old man from Gondia in Maharashtra has now surrendered before Nagpur police after being identified as a suspect behind the current spate of threats, it’s best not to treat it as an open-and-shut case. Any number of tech geeks with or without terror links can potentially have played mischief and are capable of doing it again. The need is to develop a crack, pan-India unit that can use technology to beat technology and pose a credible deterrence to perpetrators in the future.