Woman arrested for duping US-based NRI over Internet

Hyderabad: City police today arrested a woman for allegedly cheating an NRI youth from United States of Rs. 14 lakh by promising to marry him.

Cyber-crime wing of Crime Investigation Department (CID) arrested Deepika Reddy alias Deepthi Vallapuri in this connection.

The youth had filed the complaint of cheating and impersonation against an unknown woman on June 20.

U Rammohan, SP, Cyber Crime, said that the complainant, a software engineer, came to know Reddy through a matrimonial website.

Her profile said she was a doctor. Subsequently, she befriended the complainant over the Internet and said she was ready to marry him.

Later, she started asking for money, saying it was meant for donating to charitable causes.

In all, he parted with Rs. 14.32 lakh, before realising that he was being taken for a ride.

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Resigned to cybercrime

SINGAPORE - According to the Global Malware Problem: Complacency Can Be Costly study commissioned by M86 Security, and conducted by Osterman Research, 49 per cent of responding companies acknowledged that security breaches occurred, but accepted them as a cost of business.

M86 Security is a provider of secure Web gateways as well as Web and email content security. Osterman Research is a United States-based research house focused on gathering information from IT decision makers and end users of information technology.

The study was done online in May 2011 and represents a cross-section of industries, with 92 per cent of respondents as decision makers and influencers in their organisations' IT departments.

The survey was conducted to assess how serious the malware concern was in today's state of global cybercrime.

The report shows that malware problems continue to rise, with 27 per cent of respondents stating that malware problems increased in the past 12 months.

"What's surprising is the degree of complacency (often driven by lack of budget or adequate information) these companies exhibit in light of the increase and complexity of the recent cyber attacks - even among those tasked with caring for data, which can include customer information and intellectual property, said president of Osterman research Michael Osterma.

"The pervasiveness of malware demonstrated in this study indicates a real need for businesses to educate themselves on the latest threats, in order to protect against serious security breaches," he added.

CEO of M86 Security John Vigouroux said: "Cybercrime as a 'business' has exploded," and added many organisations provide an "open door to cybercriminals on antiquated security technologies".

He also said a "majority of businesses felt they were better protected than other organisations whilst experiencing the same number of attacks as their peers".

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No let-up in cyber crime as fraudsters spread their web of deceit

An IT firm in Gurgaon involved in developing the source code of an upcoming software worth millions has implemented new security measures to ensure protection against cyber-attacks. The internet and local networks are fortified, cyber consultants are hired, and the employees are frisked at the gate to check if they are carrying any USB disks. One morning, a senior employee, involved in the software work, walks through the gates listening to her iPod. She plugs the device in, goes through the main systems, downloads the software source code, and after encrypting it on her iPod, walks out calmly. She is never seen on the premises again.

This incident occured in 2010, and is one of the typical cases of cyber crime taking place in IT and BPO sectors in Gurgaon. The woman finally sold the data to a rival software company for a huge profit, said Anup Girdhar, a cyber crime expert, who is a consultant with several IT firms in the city.

Being a cyber criminal is all about being inventive, a step ahead of the times, and two steps ahead of the police. According to Girdhar, new forms of cyber crimes are invented frequently. The most common form is social engineering. And it is mostly committed by company employees, he said.

Each day Gurgaon sees 20-30 cases of cyber crime committed in the corporate sector. On the one hand, the police are updating their apparatus to fight cyber crime, but simultaneously, the cyber criminals are also becoming more cunning and are able to pull off such acts effectively, added Girdhar.

New forms of hacking mainly imply new means to crack the system and attain sensitive and valuable data. But the BPO owners of the city believe that the Gurgaon police lack even the basic skills to handle routine cyber-crime cases. They lack the seriousness needed to handle data theft cases, said Sanjay Kumar (name changed).

Kumar ran a BPO in Gurgaon till three years ago, when a cyber crime incident in the company made him approach the police. First, they wouldnt register the case, as they thought it wasnt a case of cyber crime, he said.

It took Kumar six months to get an FIR registered, and the investigation is still under way. I have moved my company to Bangalore. The Gurgaon police need to get their act together if they are serious about cracking these cases. The will is missing, he added.

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2 nabbed for online fraud

HYDERABAD: The Cyber Crime Police, Cyberabad, arrested two persons, including a Nigerian national, Nebeolisa Olisaeloka Sunday alias Mike, 31 and an Indian student, Bharath Bhushan, 24, in Delhi for siphoning off Rs 1.82 lakh from a Hyderabad-based person's bank account, which occurred on May 13 at ICICI Bank, Madhapur.

The police seized net cash of $5,100, Rs 4,000 (Indian currency), MTS data card (9136966232), two laptops, a Rolex watch, four cellphones and other documents from their possession. The Cyber Crime Police, Cyberabad received a complaint from a private employee, N Venkata Raghu Vara Prasad, 32 stating that someone had hacked his bank account and siphoned off Rs 1,82,565. The culprits had debited the amount and transferred the same to eBay vide bill Nos 000225488530 and 00022548979 and purchased some articles.

After correspondence with the bank, he approached the Cyber Crime Police and lodged a complaint. Accordingly, police registered a case and began investigation.

Source:- Google.com

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198 websites hacked, 90 pct of hackers locals

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 (Bernama) -- Of the 198 Malaysian websites hacked recently, 90 percent of the hacking was done by locals, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Information Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said although some of them were able to damage some websites, they were unable to infiltrate the software.

Answering Datuk Md Sirat Abu's (BN-Bukit Katil) question during the question-and-answer session, Rais said the government would not let allow these unscrupulous individuals to continue their activities.

"The government remains cautious...individuals should not abuse their skills for hacking activities," he said.

Rais also said that the government was in the midst of improving Internet access, especially in rural areas, so that it was at par with developed Asian countries such as Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

He said the latest project implemented created a broadband network allowing Internet access for about 1,000 villages and farming areas.

"From that number, almost 400 villages were already provided the facility at existing speeds," he added.

Rais said the big project was expected to cover all targeted villages by year-end.
"We are also in the process of increasing the capacity and quality of the core network, or backbone known as backhaul, by creating more Internet traffic exchange centres nationwide," he said.

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