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`Safety, a myth in cyberspace'

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Nov. 18

DO you jumble your passwords with `$$$'s and ##**s to make them impregnable? Do you carry out e-commerce transactions over the Net frequently thinking your card is safe? You'd better watch out. For, computer forensics experts warn there's nothing called `safety' in the cyber world.

Just as our software pros made us proud, there are other IT prodigies lurking on the Internet highway who can dupe you, break into your computer system and create havoc with your data.

The fact that the number of cases registered with the Computer Forensics Division of the Government Examiner of Questioned Documents (Directorate of Forensic Science) has gone up from just one in 2000 to 69 in the first six months of the current year gives a hint of the shape of things to come.

The number of files the division examined during the period shot up to 1.09 lakh from 4,287 in 2000, officials said.

"Our young software professionals have made the country a global leader in information technology. Now, people who changed their names to Rams (Ramachandrams) and Pads (Padmanabhans) are reverting back to their original names. Exports of software products have gone up to $7.8 billion in 2002-03 from a mere $20 million in 1991," Mr S.L. Lakshminarayanan, Additional Secretary (Union Ministry of Information Technology), said.

Delivering the inaugural address at the three-day workshop on `Cyber Forensics' here on Tuesday, he said while some people brought laurels, there were others who excelled in cyber crimes.

He strongly felt that the police had to boost their anti-cyber crime activity. "Those who commit cyber crimes have in-depth knowledge of IT, while the police constables who are supposed to stop the crimes are mostly matriculates," he said, wondering how the latter could track the former down and bring them to book.

There won't be nuclear wars any more. The future will see cyber wars. They could destroy or break into the systems that formed part of tge country's vital services. "We should be able to defend our systems," he said.

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