So, what if you fall for such a trick and get cheated by believing your insane luck and becoming a scapegoat(read, BAKRA)? What we are going to discuss are valid and informative for Indian citizens. There is a separate section in the police investigative department which deals with such cases of cyber crimes. Lets get to know them and learn how to file a complaint regarding the cyber crimes, how to prevent getting scammed, what are the different types of cyber crimes and you can complaint about the fraudsters to the apt department in a few serial steps.

Prior to giving a complaint you need to get to know what a cyber crime actually is.

What are the types of Cyber Crimes?

Cyber Crime does not just mean getting cheating in the fore-mentioned ways, but it’s an umbrella which covers various kinds of offenses done using a computer as a target or as a weapon.

In this context, target means ‘your’ computer getting attacked by a worm or virus or a DOS attack rendering your computer useless.

And, using a computer as a weapon means, performing a real world crime by stealing your vital information or misusing your personal information for their own personal gain. Examples: Cyber Terrorism, Pornography, Credit Card Frauds and others mentioned in the above two examples.

Who can do these kind of crimes?

The list probably starts with your known and well acquainted insiders who are dissatisfied with you or ex-employees, spouses or lovers. Other categories of people who might hurt you online through one kind or another cyber crime are hackers, virus creators, other nation’s cyber department or else terrorists(some of the best hackers are hired).

How can you prevent these kind of cyber crimes?

There are no base rules to specify what you should or should not do in order to curb this kind of menace, but I will let you know general rule of thumb tips like:

• Do not access secure information like net-banking, credit cards in public internet cafes
• Use up to date anti-virus and operating system’s security patches
• Create a 8-12 digit alphanumeric password which will be hard to guess for someone who does not know you
• Do not share your personal details to any stranger on the internet
• Do not open attachments from people you do not know

Simple, yet effective tips.

Where should I report a Cyber Crime in my city/town/village?

If you think that you are a victim of cyber crime, the primary step would be to contact your nearest local police station where in the concerned people will point you to the right place where you can lodge a written complaint.

If you are residing in any of the following metro/cosmopolitan cities, then find the addresses and phone numbers below:

Cyber crime office in Mumbai

Assistant Commissioner of Police
Cyber Crime Investigation Cell
Office of Commissioner of
Police office,
Annex -3 Building,
1st floor,
Near Crawford Market,
Mumbai-01.
Contact Details:
+91-22-22630829
+91-22-22641261
Web site: http://www.cybercellmumbai.com
E-mail id: officer@cybercellmumbai.com

Cyber crime office in Chennai
Address:
Assistant Commissioner of Police
Cyber Crime Cell
Commissioner office Campus
Egmore,
Chennai- 600008
Contact Details: +91-40-5549 8211
E-mail id: s.balu@nic.in
For Rest of Tamil Nadu,
Address: Cyber Crime Cell, CB, CID, Chennai
E-mail id: cbcyber@tn.nic.in

Cyber crime office in Bangalore
(for whole of the Karnataka)
Address:
Cyber Crime Police Station
C.O.D Headquarters,
Carlton House,
# 1, Palace Road,
Bangalore – 560 001
Contact Details:
+91-80-2220 1026
+91-80-2294 3050
+91-80-2238 7611 (FAX)
http://www.cyberpolicebangalore.nic.in/
Email-id: ccps@blr.vsnl.net.in, ccps@kar.nic.in

Cyber crime office in Andhra Pradesh
Address:
Cyber Crime Police Station
Crime Investigation Department,
3rd Floor, D.G.P. Pffice
Lakdikapool,
Hyderabad – 500004

Contact Details:
+91-40-2324 0663
+91-40-2785 2274
+91-40-2329 7474 (Fax)
Web site:
http://www.cidap.gov.in/cybercrimes.aspx
E-mail id: cidap@cidap.gov.in, info@cidap.gov.in

Cyber crime office in Delhi
CBI Cyber Crime Cell:
Superintendent of Police,
Cyber Crime Investigation Cell
Central Bureau of Investigation,
5th Floor, Block No.3,
CGO Complex,
Lodhi Road,
New Delhi – 3
Contact Details:
+91-11-4362203
+91-11-4392424
Web site: http://cbi.nic.in/
E-Mail: cbiccic@bol.net.in

Cyber crime office in Thane
Address:
3rd Floor, Police Commissioner Office
Near Court Naka,
Thane West,
Thane 400601.

Contact Details: +91-22-25424444
Web site: www.thanepolice.org
E-Mail: police@thanepolice.org

Cyber crime office in Pune
Assistant Commissioner of Police
Cyber Crime Investigation Cell
Police Commissioner Office of Pune
2, Sadhu Vaswani Road,
Camp,
Pune 411001
Contact Details:
+91-20-2612 7277
+91-20-2616 5396
+91-20-2612 8105 (Fax)
Web site:
http://punepolice.com/crime branch.html
E-Mail: punepolice@vsnl.com

Cyber crime office in Gujarat
DIG, CID, Crime and Railways
Fifth Floor
Police Bhavan
Sector 18, Gandhinagar 382 018
Contact Details:
+91-79-2325 4384
+91-79-2325 3917 (Fax)

Now, you can choose which state or city you reside in and can just walk-in and complain about any cyber crime that you have witnessed or faced personally.

Have you personally faced any kind of cyber crime in your life? How have you stood and fought against it? How did the cyber crime cell assist you in getting your problem solved? Are you completely satisfied by the way the Cyber Crime India department handled your case?

You are provided with the feature of getting informed whether the notes had been read or not in the first place and if you think you have sent it by mistake or you should not have sent it by anymeans, then, you can destroy it yourself before it is read. This sounds good, isn’t it?

This service can be used to in order to secure your information which is meant for a single time retrieval like PIN Numbers and any other sensitive information.

Share with us if you do use any such kind of services.

Even at this age of internet revelation and moving onto IPv6 technologies, the rise and the threats issued by the worm does state the notion in people that, We are still weak, in terms of protecting and securing out online lives. The other thing which alarms at a contsnt rate is, Microsoft had announced in October 2008 to apply a patch in order to prevent the users from Conficker Worm. Yes, Microsoft, unknowingly, expected the incoming viral traces based on previous versions of Conficker. But, what causes the worry is, so many didn’t even care. They were eagerly waiting for the effects of the virus and waiting for the fast-arriving collision date of April 1, 2009.

Wanna know how this worm propagates, head over to the Microsoft’s detailed description over the Conficker worm and steps to remove the malware.

The cause of this distress on a global scale puts it simple: We are lying wide open. Just because we are spared for the time being does not mean that the real havoc has ceased to exist. The Conficker which patches the loop hole after installing itself in the system is still waiting for the instructions from it’s masters.The Microsoft states the nature of the worm in the following words:

Worm:Win32/Conficker.B is a worm that infects other computers across a network by exploiting a vulnerability in the Windows Server service (SVCHOST.EXE). If the vulnerability is successfully exploited, it could allow remote code execution when file sharing is enabled. It may also spread via removable drives and weak administrator passwords. It disables several important system services and security products.

So, readers, stay awake. Be sure to patch your systems.

The origin of the Conficker worm is considered to be China where the control centers of spy networks which are propagating this worm are officially dubbed as GhostNet. The origin has been traced back to its birth place by the Vietnamese security research firm BKIS as China because of the close resemblance of the earlier created and very notorious virus called Nimda which broke down networks by communicating itself over the internet and e-mail way back in 2001. Well, this is not backed up by any evidence stating firmly that it is correct, but the signatures in the code do reflect the origin to be China and the BKIS have released a free antivirus to protect yourself and your networks against Conficker.

You can watch the video by CBS which states the origin of viruses and worms which enable the hackers to steal sensitive information. I insist you to WATCH THE VIDEO as the narrator demonstrates how the virus really sees the secure information while you are typing in the credentials for your online bank or mail accounts. Creepy? Yeah, it is VERY CREEPY.

The viruses do not always mean to steal the information, rather, they are often created to judge the supremacy of one “cyber gang” over another. No matter, who ever wins the heated competition, in the middle, the losers are Networks.

Now, there are numerous free tools which are suggested to be run when you are sure that your network is affected by Conficker Worm. The effects of this worm are still…..UNKNOWN. Yes, the hordes of teams who work on providing security to the networks are just perplexed over what the disastrous effects of this worm are. It is because, the worm is supposed to be triggered on April 1^st, 2009. A Fool’s Day indeed. The worm is sitting in the networks waiting for the instructions over what to do next after propagating itself and securely sitting there cozily.

The hardwork of Dan Kaminsky and Rich Mogull, the German researchers who have successfully detected and patched up the networks by containing the Conficker Worm, has paid off and they offer various methodologies using which you can block off the virus altogether and prevent it from spreading, that is, you can instantly quarantine the virus. The white paper duly summons the procedures taken by the multiple variants of the Conficker worm to spread itself and provides bunch of tools which enable you to take control, rather than the worm.

Phew! We need to always be on the heels when we login. No place is safe now-a-days.

Do share with us if you have faced any recent threats by the Viruses and How you backlashed on them?

Now, there is a service which can be used to share and as well as check the authenticity of the links that you recieve. Meet Shuurl, the safest and secure link sharing service. The excerpt from Shuurl site is,

SHUURL is a free short URL service with one BIG difference… we give you a preview of the shortened URL, the actual link and a safety rating so you know what site you’re about to visit!

The user interface provided by Shuurl is so simple and intuitive.

Just provide a URL which you wish to check on whether it is safe to open or not and the service converts the provided lengthy URL to a shorter one. For eg:

Now, this lengthy URL is converted to:

Now, click the ‘Test New Short URL” provided which displays the following page which classifies the URL by checking the authenticity of this short URL.

The above screen shows whether the provided URL is safe or unsure or unsafe or no report exists. So based on this report you can choose whether to open this link or not.

By the way, the URL we tested is very much valid and it’s a good site which provides information regarding how to take care of Babies Health.