Cyber cafe owners told to keep visitor's log

KOCHI: Under the aegis of City Police, a meeting of 200 internet cafe operators was held at the Infant Jesus Hall here on Thursday. City Police Deputy Commissioner Gopalakrishna Pillai inaugurated the meeting. Crime Detachment Assistant Commissioner Rajesh, City Cyber Crime Inquiry Cell Sub-Inspector, Francis Pereira took classes on the topic ‘Cyber Crimes and the Responsibilities of Cyber Cafe operators’.

The meeting analysed that the majority of the crimes in the city is concentrated on internet cafes.

So if the operators are not keeping their log details up to date, they also become the partners of crime. On the other hand, those cafes that abide by the prescribed norms help in identifying the cyber criminals. Software that can keep the identification details of the cafe visitors are available in the market. The internet cafes should make use of it, the police said.

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Cyber cell registers business fraud case

The Cyber Crime Cell of the Chandigarh Police, on Wednesday, registered a case of business fraud which was committed through Internet.

The police has booked six persons in a case of cheating and various sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act. The case has been registered on the complaint of V K Malhotra, an Industrial Area based businessman.

Those booked are: UK resident David Afburn Cassabery, Belgium-based Charles William, Sanjeev Malhotra of Malhotra Enterprises in Mumbai, Surinder and Joseth – all of whom took Rs 17.31 lakhs in cash from the complainant and supplied him with fake quartz stones.

According to the complainant, he lost Rs 17.3 lakh to a fraud proposal received in response to his online advertisement.

Malhotra ended up paying the amount for purchase of four-kilogram quartz stone, which infact turned out to be another stone ‘Galena’, which cost around Rs 4,000.

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London teenager arrested in international cybercrime raids

A South London teenager suspected of having links to cyber activism groups Anonymous and LulzSec was arrested on Tuesday as part of a global sting, police have confirmed.

Scotland Yard's specialist e-crime unit made the arrest under the Computer Misuse Act yesterday and a 16-year-old is in custody, police said.

His identity has not been revealed but sources within Anonymous told The Independent that they believe he could be a former member who was ejected from the group after trying to out fellow members.

Administrators on the group's chatroom were yesterday warning members to be vigilant in the wake of the raids.

A "global" message, sent to all members told them: "We strongly advise you to not use LOIC (Low-orbit Ion Cannon, a tool used by the group to carry out attacks) ever again. In addition to that, keep your ego in check when you hit stuff. Use the anon flag instead of your nickname by which you can be linked to attacks..." [sic]

The raids, carried out in the UK, the USA and the Netherlands, were linked to the attack on PayPal in December last year, as well as other attacks. PayPal was allegedly targeted after the payment service stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks.

In all, 21 suspected "hacktivists" were arrested across the three countries while US police officers secured 35 search warrants related to the inquiry.

Four hackers were arrested by the Dutch National Police Agency, all for alleged cybercrimes, while court documents confirm 14 alleged hackers charged in connection with the PayPal attack were arrested in various US states and are aged between 20 and 42. Two arrests were also made in the US unrelated to the PayPal attack.

In one case, filed in New Jersey, Lance Moore, 21, was accused of exceeding his authorised access AT&T's servers and stealing confidential business information, which was posted on a public file sharing site.

According to The Associated Press, Scott Arciszewski, 21, was arrested on charges of intentional damage to a protected computer, in relation to an attack on the FBI-affiliated Infragard website last month.

A lawyer for one of the PayPal accused compared the acts allegedly committed by his client and the others to civil disobedience. He said: "In the 18th century, people stood on street corners handing out pamphlets saying, 'Beware the all-powerful military and big government'. Some people listened. Some people walked away. Today, pamphleteers use the internet."

Anonymous members said yesterday afternoon that they believed those arrested in the US had been released and had been banned from accessing the internet until they reappear in court.

The US Department of Justice could not immediately confirm the ban but a spokesman said the terms "would not be unusual".

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Teenager arrested in cybercrime investigation

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of being connected with computer hacking group Anonymous.

The arrested teenager is suspected of being connected with hacking group

The teenager was arrested at a south London address yesterday and taken to a central London police station, where he remains in custody, police said.

He was held on suspicion of breaching the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

The Metropolitan Police is liaising with the FBI and authorities in the Netherlands, a police spokesman added.

It is understood that he is suspected of being connected with hacking group Anonymous.

It came as 14 people were arrested in the US for allegedly mounting a cyberattack on PayPal's website in retaliation for suspending the accounts of WikiLeaks.

The attacks on the online payment specialist by the group Anonymous followed the release by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks in November of thousands of classified US State Department cables.

Anonymous, a loosely-organised group of hackers sympathetic to WikiLeaks, has claimed responsibility for attacks against corporate and government websites all over the world.

The group also claims to have disrupted the websites of Visa and MasterCard in December when the credit card companies stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

The 14 allegedly involved in the PayPal attack were charged in US District Court in San Jose, California, and were arrested in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio.

Meanwhile, FBI agents executed more than 35 search warrants around the country in an continuing investigation into coordinated cyber-attacks against major companies and organisations.

There were two arrests in the United States unrelated to the PayPal attack and four arrests by the Dutch National Police Agency.

The London suspect is the second British teenager to be arrested over allegations of cybercrime in recent weeks.

Last month Ryan Cleary was detained and accused of attempting to hack into the website of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

Cleary, 19, who is accused of taking part in a conspiracy to attack sites including those of Soca and the British Phonographic Industry, is currently on conditional bail.

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Cops plan awareness classes for netcafe owners

KOCHI: In the wake of the rising number of cyber crimes being reported from internet cafes, the City Police have decided to organise an awareness campaign for the internet cafe operators regarding strengthening of various monitoring systems.

A communication from the office of City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar said the campaign will be organised by the Cyber Crime Inquiry Cell of the City Police.

Police said there were around 200 cyber cafes in the city and almost all of them were grossly violating the rules mainly various provisions under Information Technology Act.
The campaign will be held on July 21 at Infant Jesus Parish Hall around 10.30 am. City Police Commissioner M R Ajith Kumar will deliver the keynote address on ‘Responsibilities and Cyber Laws’.
Crime Detachment Assistant Commissioner Rajesh will organise a debate on cyber laws.
Police said the campaign was being organised to create awareness among the cyber cafe owners on the need to maintaining a registry of internet users and copy of a valid ID proof of the customers.
“Despite repeated advisories, the cafe owners seem to be giving scant regard to the rules laid down for operating the internet cafes, the police said.

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Special police unit set up in Sri Lanka to curb computer related crime

July 20, Colombo: Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lanka Police announced setting up of a Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) and a Digital Forensic Lab aiming to assist the public who have been deceived by organized computer crime.

The step has been taken under Computer Crime Act No.24 of 2007.

The unit will investigate computer crimes such as hacking, unauthorized access to the system and manipulating data, collecting, changing, corrupting and destroying data without permission, offences against national security, national economy and public order, and criminal breach of trust.

The special unit, consisting of 14 police personnel to conduct investigations into all the complaints received by the unit, will be handled directly by the Deputy Inspector General of Police who is in charge of the CID and the director of the CID.

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Himachal police bust ATM hackers' gang

Himachal Police have busted an interstate gang involved in cyber crime, with the arrest of three persons who were caught red-handed while trying to hack an ATM in Hamirpur.

"Three members of the gang, Shekar, 30, from Delhi, Puran Singh, 32, and Hetam , 28, both from Shimla have been caught by the police. The gang comprises 5 to 6 people, while 2 are from Shimla district, the rest are from Delhi. They are suspected to have been involved in various ATM hackings in North India. We are looking at uncovering a major scam of ATM hackings, following the arrest of these three gang members," disclosed ASP Sanjeev Gandhi on Saturday, who is investigating the case.

He said that the department received the first complaint from PNB Bank officials at Palampur police station saying that money of some of the ATM users had been fraudulently withdrawn. "Acting on their complaint, we looked into the CCTV footage of 38 hours and found the videos of the culprits," he said.

After caring out search operations and piecing together the complaints received from different banks, the police department nabbed three of the gang members from the kiosk of the SBI ATM in Hamirpur where they had already stolen Rs 15,000 and were preparing to withdraw more, told Gandhi.

Cautioning ATM users, the ASP said that one should not use the ATMs which had hanged and if the machine was hanging after inserting the ATM card then one should check his account balance duly.

The ASP said that the hackers knew various techniques of committing cyber crime. "For hacking ATMs, they used steel pins with fluid and tape of special kind," he said.

"Search operations have been intensified on clues given by the arrested people, while one CIA team has already left for Delhi to arrest the rest of the gang members," said Gandhi.

One of the ATM hackers, Pooran Singh told TOI that he was taught about hacking by a Delhi-based boy who lives in Janakpuri. "I only have Rs 18,000 and the rest of the amount is with him," he said.

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India, US join hands to fight cyber crime, sign MoU

NEW DELHI: With Internet becoming a new tool for terrorists, India and the US on Tuesday decided to promote closer cooperation and timely exchange of information to fight cyber crimes.

According to a statement by the US Embassy here, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard.

The agreement was signed by Jane Holl Lute, Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and India Department of Information Technology Secretary R Chandrashekhar.

The MoU will establish the best practices for exchange of critical cyber security information and expertise between the two governments through the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT).

CERT-In is the India's nodal agency for responding to cyber security incidents

US-CERT serves as the operational arm of DHS' National Cyber Security Division.

The MoU helps fulfill the commitment of both nations to advancing the global security and countering terrorism, one of the pillars of the US-India Strategic Dialogue, launched on July 20, 2009.

The respective governments and cyber security communities in the US and India will now have the ability to coordinate with each other on a broad range of technical and operational cyber issues.

IT and Communication Minister Kapil Sibal later in the day met US security officials and discussed matters related to cyber security.

India, like many other countries, faces new security threats from the cyber world, especially in the aftermath of increasing convergence of technologies. There are serious concerns that terrorists might hack the department portals to and cripple the government functions.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano had travelled to India in May to launch the US-India Homeland Security Dialogue (HSD) with Home Minister P Chidambaram. This was the first comprehensive bilateral dialogue on homeland security issues between the US and India.

During Napolitano's visit, the two countries had agreed to create the MoU, and negotiations for the non-binding arrangements.

US-CERT's mission is to improve the nation's cyber security posture, coordinate cyber information sharing and proactively manage cyber risks to the nation while protecting the constitutional rights of Americans.

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FBI Agents Arrest UCF Student In Cyber Crime Case

ORLANDO, Fla. -- FBI agents raided a University of Central Florida residence hall and arrested a student that they accuse of perpetrating a cyber attack.

Federal authorities said the student, 21-year-old computer engineering major Scott Arciszewski, is affiliated with the online activist group Anonymous. The group has been linked to hacking attacks on a number of Orange County websites.

The FBI said it's looking into whether there's a connection between Anonymous and the UCF student.

Arciszewski told WESH 2 News that his federal public defender told him not to speak out publicly, but he did say that he's extremely stressed by the ordeal.

He's one of 16 people arrested in raids across the country on Tuesday who are accused of cyber attacks.

"I was completely surprised, being honors students and athletes, not a lot of bad things happen in the towers," said UCF student Dan Chesney.

The UCF honor student said he was stunned when FBI agents in bulletproof vests swarmed the third floor of the Tower Three residence hall and arrested his fellow classmate.

"They came and knocked on his door, and there was a big ruckus," said a student who witnessed the arrest.

Arciszewski is accused of hacking the website infragardtampabay.org. It's an FBI-affiliated site that works with businesses, Homeland Security and law enforcement to protect against counter-terrorism and cyber-crimes.

"It's illegal, so he shouldn't have been doing it," said Chesney. "At the same time, kudos to him for having the skill as a college student to hack into some major corporation's website."

On Arciszewski's website, Kobra's Corner, he brags how the site isn't safe and said he penetrated it within five minutes. Federal agents said he uploaded three files, damaged the server, and then posted step-by-step instructions for others.

"They kind of need to step up their security, if that's the case," said Chesney.

Arciszewski also tweeted about the hack-job with friends with possible ties to Anonymous.

FBI agents arrested 14 members across the country accused of hacking the PayPal website in the Tuesday raids.

Recently Anonymous claims it set its sights on taking down central Florida-related websites. They said it's retaliation for Orlando Police arrests of Food Not Bombs members feeding the homeless in Lake Eola.

Agents said the UCF student even sent a tweet to the FBI saying that the website he hacked is one heck of an exploit. Arciszewski told WESH 2 News that UCF is not kicking him out of the campus dorms. The school will only say it's cooperating with the FBI investigation.

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