The Hindu Business Line : Cyber forensic tools to be released today

CYBER forensics tools developed at the Technical Resource Centre for Cyber Forensics (TRCCF) of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Thiruvananthapuram, will be formally released at a two-day workshop on "Cyber Forensics" that begins here on Thursday.

Briefing newspersons on the event, Mr Rajan T. Joseph, Director, C-DAC, Thiruvananthapuram, said Mr S. Lakshminarayanan, Additional Secretary, Department of IT, would release the tools at the inaugural function, which would also see a separate Manual for Investigation being unveiled.

Among those expected to speak on the occasion are Dr T.K. Viswanathan, Secretary, Legislative Department and Dr A.K. Chaturvedi, Advisor, Department of IT, Government of India, and Prof N. Balakrishnan, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The rapid growth of information technology and opening up of the Internet from a purely academic domain to the public has made the world access the Net for everything from communication, music and shopping to online business opportunities.

At the same time, the wide potential of the Internet has attracted the fancy of criminal offenders, terrorists and other outlaws to use the same as a potential media for committing offences.

The Internet has come to be used as a potential source for committing property crimes such as credit card and financial frauds, counterfeit documents, and larceny, crimes against humans such as pornography, threats, stalking and sexual abuse of children, specific computer/internet crimes such as virus attacks, data manipulation and Web site hacking.

It is in this context that the TRCCF has been set up with a mandate to develop capabilities in forensics involving computer crimes and provide support to the law enforcement agencies.

The Department of Information Technology (DIT) initiated activities in this area by coordinating with other agencies and institutions all over India. CDAC, Thiruvananthapuram, was chosen as the first centre of this kind owing to the rich expertise and infrastructure facilities available with the centre.

The DIT initiated twin projects in May 2002, namely Identification of Appropriate Technological Procedures for Handling and Analysing Digital Evidence at the National Police Academy, Hyderabad, and the TRCCF at CDAC, Thiruvananthapuram.

The project at the academy seeks to formulate the procedures for handling and analysing digital evidences to effectively implement the Information Technology Act 2000. These procedures will enable the law enforcement agencies in India to effectively tackle cyber crimes by producing sustainable digital evidences in the court.

The objectives of the TRCCF are to develop indigenous tools for cyber forensics, providing technical services to law enforcement agencies in analysing cyber crimes and providing training on cyber forensics. These tools are developed in consultation with the police academy so that they conform to the procedures being developed by them.

The police academy and the DIT are jointly organising the workshop, which would, among other things, the role and use of the manual and cyber forensics tool for cyber crime investigation, future directions, and enhancement to the indigenously developed tools.