'Cyber police station needed in every dist'

A full-fledged cyber crime police station is needed in every district to tackle the increasing cyber crimes. An exclusive cyber court should also be set up to deal with the cases, said Dr Ananth Prabhu G, Professor at Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management.

“If the Data Protection Bill is implemented then cyber crimes can be tackled effectively,” Prabhu, also a cyber security expert, said while replying to a caller during the phone-in programme.

RFID blocking pouch

Using RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) Reader, a fraudster can easily withdraw money from the credit or debit card with an embedded RFID chip.

A sum of Rs 2,000 can be withdrawn without using the password. To protect the card embedded RFID chip, one need to use aluminum foil debit card sieve called RFID blocking pouch, Prabhu added. The banks can provide RFID blocking pouch while issuing the debit card. He said government should ban internet calls or VoIP calls in India.

Fraudulent SMS

Caller Aboobakker sought to know how to stop receiving fraudulent messages like winning a prize money or car.

Prabhu said that data base of the callers are sold by marketeers. Senior citizens and women fall prey to ‘phishing’, a fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers and so on.

To block all unwanted commercial calls/SMS, mobile users can activate DND (Do not disturb) on their mobile by dialing 1909 and selecting the options, or by sending SMS to 1909, he said.

All the mobilephone users should save their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number soon after the purchase, to trace the lost mobilephone, Prabhu said replying to a query. The IMEI can be collected by dialling *#06# on the phone.

Further, the Department of Telecommunication has come out with Central Equipment Identity Register, wherein a user can report to their operator about the theft by entering the mobile device’s IMEI number into the CEIR. This will make the device unusable at any network.

When Rajesh from Kadri sought to know on deleting cookies from android phone, Prabhu said all cache files can be cleaned from the setting of the mobilephone.

Using the paid anti-virus, helps in scanning all the applications in the phone. Do not give access to contacts and other details of the mobilephone while installing any applications on the phone, he advised.

Prabhu said that to know more about cyber safety, one can log on to cybersafegirl.com to download the free e-booklet.