Cyber crooks on the prowl in B'luru, BEWARE

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: In recent years, the Karnataka Cyber Crime Cell has been actively detecting various forms of cyber offenses, including phishing, vishing, email abuse, and cyberstalking.

However, there has been a recent surge in hackingrelated complaints, prompting senior police officers to advise businessmen, especially those heavily reliant on email and online transactions, to regularly change their passwords.

In the most recent incident, a businessman based in Lucknow filed a complaint with the City Market Police Station in Bengaluru after a hacker stole private information from his laptop and mobile phone.

The victim, Vaibhav Trivedi, aged 46, explained in his complaint that he received an anonymous email on August 28, claiming that his laptop and mobile phone had been hacked.

According to police sources, the victim had come to Bengaluru on a business trip and was staying in a Chickpet hotel for ten days. He works as a creative consultant.

Trivedi alleged in his complaint that the hacker had somehow managed to pilfer private data and photos from his laptop and mobile phone, subsequently blackmailing him for money.

The hacker shared cryptocurrency account details and demanded $1,490, equivalent to approximately Rs 1.23 lakh, from the victim.

A senior police officer explained that once hackers gather enough information and determine that a person can be manipulated, they send emails in the name of a business associate or partner, requesting fund transfers.

If the unsuspecting individual falls into the trap, the hackers profit from the scheme. The police have registered a case under the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000 and are currently conducting a thorough investigation.

Additionally, Bengaluru police have advised individuals to deactivate location-sharing services on their devices once they have completed their work to enhance online security.

HOW NOT TO FALL INTO A TRAP?

One weak password is all hackers need to compromise applications or accounts and access confidential files and data.

Sometimes hackers exploit human psychology, while other times, systems are infected or infiltrated with malicious software. However, there are ways to prevent falling into their trap:

• Use 16-character passwords with at least some special characters. 
• Employ salts in your passwords. Salts are random data inserted at the beginning, middle, or end of the password, making it difficult for hackers to crack plain passwords.
• Keep your antivirus updated and disable third-party cookies (tracking cookies) in your internet browser for safer browsing.
• Avoid unauthorised usage of your devices.