SSP Kichloo cautions people against cyber crime

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 24

With cyber crime increasing across the country and more people falling into the traps laid by criminals, there is a need to spread awareness on the threats from the system.

Talking to The Tribune, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohammed Yaseen Kichloo spoke about the different types of cyber attacks being launched by criminals along with the visible and invisible web.

He said people need to be made aware of cyber crimes, where criminals all over the world were active, waiting and watching to inflict damage for minting money illegally.

“Any unlawful act in which a computer, connected through the Internet, is either a tool or a target or both is a cyber crime. Computer doesn’t only means desktop but it includes any digital device, except calculator,” he added.

“These crimes include hacking, which means illegal intrusion; pornography; cyber defamation, which means publishing defamatory matter about any person or group of people; phishing, which means to get personal information of public; cyber squatting, which means hijacking the domain name; cyber stalking, which means harassing or threatening online; email bombing; vishing; salami attack; SMS spoofing; data diddling; sale of illegal articles; and mobile cloning,” the SSP added.

Kichloo said most of these crimes happen on the visible Internet, which was called surface web. “The surface web constitutes only 4 per cent of the total web space available in the world,” he said.

“Meanwhile, the rest of the 96 per cent is the invisible Internet, where all users don’t have access. This is divided into two types which include deep web and dark web or net. In deep web, the date of companies or organisations is not available on search engines and when anything illegal happens, it is not detected,” the SSP added.

“However, the biggest problem is the dark web or net which is a platform for all dangerous criminal activities such as selling drugs, hacking software, counterfeit money and where crimes like murder, immoral activities, chopping of private parts and much more is done on demand and payment is made through crypto currency,” he said, adding that so far the ISIS had used the invisible Internet.

He said it was difficult to track cyber crime activities in the dark or deep web rather than surface web. “But law enforcing agencies are being equipped to tackle this menace,” Kichloo added.

An expert on cyber crime, SSP Kichloo has written several books and articles on this subject.

Digital threats

• Any unlawful act in which a computer, connected through the Internet, is either a tool or a target or both is a cyber crime. Computer doesn't only means desktop but it includes any digital device, except calculator 
• The crimes include hacking, pornography; cyber defamation, phishing, cyber squatting, cyber stalking, email bombing, vishing, salami attack, SMS spoofing, data diddling, sale of illegal articles and mobile cloning