India Hosts World Cyber Crime Conference

India is hosting the 7th international conference on cyber crime hosted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at New Delhi from September 12 to 14.

Delegates from 37 countries include senior police and cyber crime experts, in addition to experts from EUROPOL, UNODC, UNICR, Council of Europe, multinational IT companies, Indian Public Sector Undertakings and Department of Electronics, Government of India. The three-day conference is being organised by Interpol.

The CBI, which is the nodal agency for training law enforcement officers in cyber crime investigation in India and has experience in investigating cyber crimes with international ramifications, will make a key presentation on 'International Cooperation in Cyber Crime Investigation', said G Mohanti, CBI spokesperson.

Expressing concern over the increasing level of online child pornography, trafficking in contraband items and e-commerce frauds, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said that these offences should capture the priority attention of lawmakers and law enforcement agencies.

In the context of cyber law enforcement, Patil suggested that unless domestic efforts are leveraged with international cooperation, combating such crimes will be ineffective. Patil also called for effective collaboration between public and private entities in investigation of cyber crimes.

The discussion on police response to cyber crimes and cyber terrorist activities would include topics like ID thefts, banking frauds, online gaming, child pornography and abuse, and importantly, the use of the cyber arena by terrorists for various forms of cyber terrorism.

Patil has suggested four simple steps, including sharing of experience and technology at individual and national level to tackle the growing menace of cyber crime. "Every country needs to honour and quickly respond to Interpol's references and bilateral requests for information sharing and data preservation. There should be a liberal sharing of forensic technology for achieving standardization of expert efforts. There should be more cross-country training exchange programs, and timely alerts should be provided by affected countries to others about new forms of cyber crimes and new modus operandi", he said.

"The cyber world pervades almost every aspect of our existence today. The rapid growth and astonishing rise of internet has been attributed to its borderless and transnational nature without any barriers," Mohanti added.

However, till date, efforts to prevent or deter cyber criminals have not been very effective.