By Gargi Parsai

New Delhi, Apr 3 (UNI) Amidst the hullabaloo on leakage of Facebook data for electoral gains, it must be brought to light that there are cyber security cells like the one functioning in Indore, for instance, that have had successes in dealing with cyber crimes including hacking of emails, trading of credit and debit card data and now, even Bitcoin wallet hacking.
Digital India is the slogan of New India but unless cyber security is tightened and laws made stringent with heavy penalty, data will continue to be hacked and traded, informed sources told UNI.
Personal data is being hacked from servers of internet banking, e-commerce, social media, matrimonial, jobs websites, etc.
The most startling revelation is that there are some international websites on which Indian credit and debit card details are up for sale.
On one site alone about four lakh credit and debit card details are up for sale to whoever pays for them, the sources said.
The cards were apparently brought from certain websites in exchange of Bitcoins, the crypto currency that is illegal in India.
The biggest volume of hacked card data in circulation is that of Americans followed by the British and then Indians.
Speaking to UNI, Indore Cyber Security Cell Superintendent of Police Jitendra Singh confirmed this and said his Cell had lifted data of about one lakh people whose credit/debit cards information was up for sale in the international market and sent it to all the banks in the country, the Reserve Bank of India and the Ministry of Information Technology.
The idea was to ask banks to caution the customer to block the cards to save themselves from being ripped off.
To verify the veracity of the information, the Indore Cyber Security cell set up a decoy and bought one card in exchange of Bitcoin and lo and behold, all the details on the card including the mobile number of the client showed up. The cyber cell contacted the customer and advised her to block her card.
"This was our first encounter with prohibited sites and Bitcoin,’’ he said.
Mr Singh is very conscious of the fact that there has to be strong awareness drive to make people conscious of the dangers and pitfall in online trading, banking, etc.
For this, his department continuously holds workshops and awareness campaigns in various schools, colleges and other institutions.
Recently, he organised a campaign at his office with young Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) girl students to make them aware of misuse of their profile photos and personal information on Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.
"We wanted to make them aware about the risks in social media sites and give them the confidence that they could come to the Indore Cyber Security Cell without hesitation in case they needed help,’’ Mr Singh said.
UNI GP SNU 1212