Paramita Karati, the MD of a consultancy firm, found her email account hacked in April. She later retrieved her account, but all her mails had been deleted from the inbox. The detective department's cyber crime cell finally zeroed in on the IP (internet protocol) address from where her account was hacked.
Aruna Dikshit (name changed) found her email account hacked a few months ago. The hacker had changed her password and started sending mails from her account to people with whom she shared a professional relation. The intention was to harm her professionally. Police tracked down the hacker.
KOLKATA: With more and more people depending on emails as the primary mode of communication, instances of email hacking - believed to be the simplest of cyber crimes - are wreaking havoc with professional lives across the city.
Since the hacker can be situated anywhere in the globe, identification becomes that much more difficult. And if the city police earlier had no clue about stopping such activities, they have now woken up to the need to act tough on these hackers.
"We now have the resources and the expertise to take on these hackers," said deputy commissioner of police Jawed Shamim.
In Paramita's case, the sleuths were quick to identify the IP address of the offending computer. It was in New Jersey.
Both of Paramita's mail accounts - gmail and rediffmail - had been hacked simultaneously on April 24. "I was shattered. I have some very important professional and valuable information about some of my prestigious clients which, if used, can be harmful to my customers. The misuse of the mails can have far-reaching implications. I want all mails retrieved through Google's and Rediff's back-up servers," said Paramita.
"I wanted to have a thorough probe and nail the culprit, wherever on earth he or she is," Paramita said. She first went to the local police, who did not know how to handle such cases. She moved fast. The day after her accounts were compromised, she lodged a complaint with the detective department's cyber crime cell. She also moved court.
Paramita also lodged a complaint with email service provider, Google Incorporates. Google's representatives immediately sent a reply saying "their investigation was inconclusive and hence they have disabled the said electronic mail account for her security", said Kushagra Shah, Paramita's lawyer.
A person guilty of hacking can be jailed for three years or be made to pay a penalty ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs one crore. Both punishments can also be enforced under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
"Since almost all computer users fall under the purview of international cyber law, any notice from any country against individuals or organisations is accorded appropriate importance by organisations. If the unique IP address of the computer is identified, then a letter from police is enough to put the individual in the dock. The user of a computer is responsible for any act or offence committed with it," Shah added.
So, what are the measures you can take to prevent such a crime happening to you?
"We are asking every internet user to adopt certain practices to keep hackers at bay. Download or accept files from reliable sources only and use firewall to block unauthorised access to your computer. Instal a good virus scanner programme and update virus information files at least weekly. Change passwords regularly and keep confidential information, such as bank or financial account numbers, on removable disks, not on the hard disk," said a senior detective department official.
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